By Nov. 8—Course correction made.
Now that doesn't mean that everything with the Gonzaga women's basketball team is peachy and without flaw. But 44 hours after what they called an embarrassing loss, the Bulldogs had their best start of the season.
Call the Zags' 85-58 win over the UC Riverside Highlanders on Sunday before 4,521 at McCarthey Athletic Center a step in the right direction.
For the first time in three games, Gonzaga scored the first basket. And the cold-shooting Highlanders contributed as well, missing their first 16 shots from the field. A basket from forward Lauren Whittaker capped a 14-1 start.
The Bulldogs (2-1) never led in the loss to Idaho on Friday. They never trailed against UCR (1-2).
"We had a lot better energy," GU coach Lisa Fortier said. "We rebounded a heckuva lot better. I liked the pace better. It's nice to be the team that sets the tone versus the team that's having to respond."
Gonzaga's starting forwards, Whittaker and Taylor Smith, said the correction started in an early practice Saturday.
"We just took the rest of the day (Friday, after the loss) to get all of our emotions out," said Smith, who was one of four Zags in double-figure scoring with 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. "We talk a lot about the process. So just moving on and bringing good energy to practice … we had a really good practice and prepared well for (Sunday). We started off well and it went from there."
Whittaker had her second double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds to go with five assists and four steals.
"Knowing that the last two games were a bit rough to start, we knew we had to come out and punch first," Whittaker said. "Even just simplifying everything to just getting the first bucket. Taking baby steps like that. The team rallied after the Idaho loss."
Guard Allie Turner, who didn't take a shot in the first quarter, matched Whittaker's 14 points and Teryn Gardner, who came off the bench after starting the first two games, had 11 with five steals.
Gardner hit a 3-pointer off a pass from Whittaker to give Gonzaga its biggest first-half lead at 28-12 with 4:20 to go in the second quarter.
Gonzaga's lead never got below double digits.
Another Gardner 3-pointer late in the third extended the Bulldogs' lead to 55-35.
A third Gardner 3-pointer put the Zags ahead by their largest margin at 78-51 with 2:31 remaining.
Gonzaga was outrebounded by smaller Idaho on Friday. Sunday the Zags won the boards 49-30.
They also had 17 steals, forcing most of UCR's 22 turnovers.
"Defense has to continue to be a focus for us," Fortier said. "There's good offensive players who are gonna try to exploit us."
Fortier saw a number of positives and things her team will learn.
"We need to learn from all the games," she said. "There's plenty to learn from this game, but I think we responded really well. The team seemed focused (at practice) and they came out looking like it today. So often it's how you start."
Now Gonzaga hits the road for the first time with stops at Grand Canyon on Friday and Stanford on Sunday before returning home Nov. 18 against Montana.
"It's a hard road trip," Fortier said. "I've never been to Grand Canyon before, but I've seen the pictures and videos. They get a lot of support and they run a difficult style that was hard for us last year. That's going to be one thing. And then you go to Stanford and it's a very different game and they have a different team than they had last year. They're always extremely skilled, very disciplined, they execute really well and they're really smart. Two tough places to play and a good chance for us to test ourselves."
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/allie-turner-lauren-whittaker-help-030600941.html
