possible opening for Gonzaga to take the West Coast Conference lead
Exactly two weeks ago, the Gonzaga women were 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the West Coast Conference. Then, they traveled to Portland to face-off against a pORTLAND squad coming off their first loss of the season to Oregon State after a strong non-conference performance that had them looking like the jewel of the WCC. At the time, the chances of the Zags leaving the City of Roses with a win seemed slim at best. Instead, what happened was the Bulldogs brought one of their stronger performances of the year as they downed the Pilots 76-71. If you want a more detailed recap, check out this article.
Later today, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will be looking to take two from the WCC-leading Portland Pilots, at least in terms of NET ranking and overall record. Tip-off is slated to take place at 6 pm PST and will be shown on ESPN+.
Since that loss, Portland looks to have returned to form as they’ve won their two games against LMU and USF by 21 and 14 points. They would’ve faced off against Pepperdine last Thursday, but the terrible fires in/around Los Angeles postponed that match to an unspecified time/place.
Their shooting has been been top-notch, 49.5% (49-99) overall from two and 39.4% (13-33) from three. They’ve been out-rebounding their opponents 71-58 with victories on both the defensive and offensive glass. They’re defense has been outstanding as they’ve held opponents to just 61 and 60 points with an average of 35.6% shooting overall and 26.5% shooting from deep. Portland Coach Meeks has this team playing physical if their 28 steals and 15 blocks are worth anything.
Potentially more important than anything though, the Pilots have likely marked this game on the schedule since the loss two weeks ago and should be wanting to revenge. I’m expecting a tough battle tonight and the Zags will need to play more like they did the 1st half of the previous game when they outscored Portland 43-30 compared to the 2nd half when they were outscored 33-41.
With regards to the individual players, not much is different to report from the last preview article I wrote a little over two weeks ago. Two notable players to report on come in the form of 6’0” senior starting guard Alexis Mark and 5’10” sophomore 6th person off the bench Rhyan Mogel. In their last two games, both players have outscored their season averages, 10.9 and 6.6 points per game respectively, as they’ve averaged a solid 14.5 and 13.5 points. If Portland’s support cast can step-up for their leaders, Maisie Burnham and Emme Shearer, that could spell trouble for the Bulldogs.
Gonzaga quick-hits:
- Yvonne Ejim is one step closer to eclipsing Heather Bowman’s scoring record of 2,165 career points as she currently stands at 2,020 points.
- Ejim, after receiving her place on the Wooden Award Watch List last week, was just recently announced as one the 15 players to the Midseason Watch List for the Becky Hammond Player of the Year award.
- Allie Turner currently ranks 3rd in the nation for three pointers made and was recently awarded another WCC Freshman of the Week award.