No. 23 WBB Comes Just Short in OT at No. 3 Stanford

Sunday, November 17

Stanford, CA

5 P.M.

Gonzaga University

2-1,0-0WCC

Stanford University

4-0,0-0Pac-12

Team	1	2	3	4	OT 1	F
Gonzaga	17	14	12	19	8	70
Stanford	16	12	17	17	14	76

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Photo by: Mike Wootton

No. 23 WBB Comes Just Short in OT at No. 3 Stanford

11/17/2019 8:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Jill Townsend led the way with 18 points for GU

STANFORD, Calif. – The Gonzaga women's basketball team fell 76-70 at No. 3 Stanford Sunday evening at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif. The Bulldogs locked down defensively, holding the nation's sixth-best scoring offense to 17 points below its season average.

"We're disappointed; we know how good they are and we know we're a good team too," head women's basketball coach Lisa Fortier said. "We talked a lot about winning the possession game because Stanford is so efficient…We wanted to be decisive. We out-rebounded them by one and we had one fewer turnover, but that wasn't enough."

Gonzaga (2-1) finished with four players in double-figures, led by Jill Townsend with 18 points. Townsend finished 6-of-10 from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to lead the Zags; the junior added four rebounds and an assist before fouling out. Both Kayleigh Truong and Melody Kempton added 12 points; Kempton finished with 10 boards—which ties her career-high—to finish with the game's only double-double. Jessie Loera added 10 points, six boards, four assists and a steal.

The Bulldogs edged No. 3 Stanford (4-0) 40-39 on the glass, and led the Cardinal in both points off turnovers (18 to 10) and second-chance points (10-9). The Zags forced 15 turnovers on the Cardinal while committing 14 on the night.

Stanford built a six-point lead early in the first quarter, and with 5:29 to go the Bulldogs still trailed by six (12-6). A trey from Loera just over a minute later cut the lead to three, and a jumper from Kayleigh Truong brought the Zags within one. Thirty seconds later, Loera converted 1-of-2 at the line to tie the game at 12-all, the first of 13 ties in the game. Gonzaga finished on a 5-4 run over the final two minutes of the quarter to lead 17-16 heading into the second.

The Bulldogs shot 25.0 percent from the floor in the second quarter, but stellar defense and controlling the glass enable the Zags to outscore the Cardinal 14-12 in the quarter. Gonzaga forced three turnovers and 30.8 percent shooting, including an 0-5 performance by Stanford from long range, while out-rebounding the Cardinal 12-10. GU led by as many as five in the period, but they headed into halftime with a three-point lead, 31-28.

Stanford shot 50.0 percent in the third period while forcing Gonzaga to shoot 30.8 percent from the floor, and the Cardinal outscored the Zags 17-12 to take a two-point lead (45-43) heading into the final period.

Neither team led by more than three points in the final 10 minutes, and with 54 seconds remaining Stanford held a three-point advantage, 60-57. With 48 seconds remaining, Loera found Townsend on the left wing, setting Townsend up for the tying trey. Townsend sunk the long-range trey to tie the game 60-all. Thirty seconds later, Stanford's Lacie Hull fouled Loera who stepped up to hit both free throws to give Gonzaga the 62-60 advantage with 16 seconds to go. The Cardinal Kiana Williams finished a contested layup with six seconds remaining to force overtime.

Gonzaga controlled the first two minutes of the extra period and led by one (64-63) with 3:18 remaining. But a quick 6-0 Stanford run saw the Zags fall behind by five with under two minutes remaining. Gonzaga would cut the lead to three off a pair of free throws from Jenn Wirth with 1:26 remaining, but Stanford made 8-of-12 free throws down the stretch to seal the 76-70 victory.

Stanford was led by Williams with 22 points while Lexie Hull added 20. Haley Jones chipped in 11.

Gonzaga returns to play Friday, Nov. 22 against Eastern Washington at 6 p.m. inside the McCarthey Athletic Center.