Gonzaga WBB Falls 92-91 to Portland in Tight, Overtime Affair

PORTLAND, Ore. – The final score certainly doesn’t do an accurate job of depicting how this game unfolded. A physical contest between Gonzaga women’s basketball (22-9, 14-4) and Portland (17-13, 11-7), filled with fouls and turnovers, led to the Pilots edging out a 92-91 overtime victory at home, denying the Bulldogs a share of the WCC regular-season title.

Much like Portland has done all season, it pressed, trapped, and was as opportunistic as possible on the Zags to limit attempts from beyond the arc and also keep them from the restricted area. Entering play Saturday as the second-best three-point shooting team in the country, GU only connected on a season-low two tries from deep, even while playing five periods. On the other side, Portland hit 13 threes of its own — several of the clutch variety — and forced 28 turnovers to gut out a narrow win.

That final turnover tally would be the highest Gonzaga has committed all season, and they happened in all shapes and sizes on Saturday. Inbounding the ball was an issue early as guards weren’t given much space, leading to forced and errant passes. When the ball did get brought up the floor, traps were sent that rushed swing passes, and the Pilots jumped into passing lanes. Eventually, the Zags' frustration grew, yielding self-inflicted wounds such as turnovers and offensive fouls that extended scoring droughts, such as a six-minute stretch during an eight-turnover second period.

But just like they have all season, the Bulldogs ran a solid half-court offense when they didn’t give possessions away. It was a stellar night from the starting lineup, with four of the five finishing in double figures. Redshirt freshman Lauren Whittaker was held to seven points after two quarters, but still provided a 30-point, 10-rebound performance, her 17thdouble-double of the year.

Portland had no problems with the Zags taking mid-range jumpers, which play into the strengths of Zeryhia Aokuso and Taylor Smith, who had 17 and 12 points, respectively. Aokuso delivered several buckets with half-spins and nifty dribble moves, while Smith nearly notched a double-double of her own after pulling down nine boards. Coming off a game where she made nine threes, Allie Turner didn’t make a shot from deep in this one but instead took what the defense gave her, driving to the cup and pulling up inside the arc on her way to 15 points.

Gonzaga didn’t make its first triple until the final minute of the third quarter, as Paige Lofing knocked down one from the left wing. The closest Gonzaga had been before that was a fadeaway make in the corner by Turner late in the first quarter, but her foot was on the line. It capped off the lone period of the contest where the Bulldogs outscored Portland (31-22), their best showing of matching physicality and not succumbing to the overbearing defense.

But it was two-fold, as the Pilots marched back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter on heroic shot-making. Despite not scoring until that point, guard Florence Dallow came through with 15 points on four made threes in the final quarter of regulation, most notably a game-tying triple as the full-court trailer with 1.7 seconds to go that effectively sent the game to sudden death.

Continuing to snipe from the outside, Portland’s Nicole Anderson opened overtime with back-to-back threes, which would be too much for the Zags to overcome. She paced Portland in scoring with 20, but was one of six to record at least 10 points in the game.

With LMU also capturing an overtime win over Oregon State, GU was locked into the No. 2 seed, no matter if it won or lost. But there will certainly be less momentum heading in, as Gonzaga will play next on Monday, March 9, opening its final conference tournament in the WCC.