> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Gonzaga WBB Overcomes Portland's Pressure and Earns 69-55 Win - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/gonzaga-wbb-overcomes-portland-pressure-earns-69-55-win/ - Published: 2026-01-11T18:24:42.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T05:54:05.000Z - Author: Corbin Smith - Tags: Game Day, Analysis, Lauren Whittaker, Lisa Fortier, Zeryhia Aokuso, Gonzaga Women's Basketball \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="777"\] ![ Gonzaga Bulldogs Zeryhia Aokuso (55) calls an offensive play in a 69-55 win over the Portland Pilots at the McCarthey Athletic Center. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/screenshot-2026-01-11-at-12-54-02-e2-80-afam-format-original.png) Gonzaga Bulldogs Zeryhia Aokuso (55) calls an offensive play in a 69-55 win over the Portland Pilots at the McCarthey Athletic Center. \[/caption\] SPOKANE, Wash. – For most of this season, Gonzaga’s (12-6, 4-1) Achilles heel has been turning the ball over. The Bulldogs entered play on Saturday with 313 turnovers, good for fifth in the WCC. And their opponent, Portland (9-8), came into action forcing the most turnovers in the conference (343), and is the only team in the conference to average more than 20 takeaways a game. This bad matchup for GU went about as expected in the game’s opening quarter. But little by little, the Zags handled the ball pressure applied by the Pilots with more poise and found themselves in the driver’s seat for a comfortable 69-55 win on their home floor. Forcing teams to turn it over is no accident on PU’s part, as the Pilots press every time their opponents inbound the ball. It makes bringing the ball up the floor a pain, and it really was a struggle for Gonzaga, which had nine turnovers in the first quarter to only six points, all scored by forward Lauren Whittaker. The constant doubling and trapping of every Bulldog ball-handler led to steals, travels, and offensive fouls – all giving Portland extra possessions. Even with no surprises in their playstyle, the Pilots’ defense still left the Zags needing an adjustment period. “A bit frantic at the start, probably weren’t seeing open players…” said Whittaker on the team’s early offensive struggles.” “We’ve worked on it all week, so we were prepared for it,” added junior guard Zeryhia Aokuso, who had a team-high three turnovers in the first quarter. “They are an aggressive team, but we learned to stay poised and — building off what we worked on all week and having trust in our teammates is really what got us through.” When they did get set into their half-court offense, the Bulldogs also missed several open looks close to the basket. Combined with PU getting out and running after creating turnovers, a 10-0 Pilots run was created that saw GU face a deficit as large as eight points. With all the turmoil faced early on, Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier said after the game she was happy that her team even got to six points in that first quarter. The Bulldogs needed a changeup to break the ice, so self-creation on offense was essential to getting back into the game. Aokuso rose to the occasion, as she has some of the best handles on GU, along with being one of the better shotmakers on the team, particularly off-the-dribble. She finished the game with 12 points, with six of them coming at the charity stripe. Gonzaga is prone to passing the ball continuously in search of the best shot, so Aokuso pressing the issue when needed was imperative to finding more rhythm. “I think that's part of the reason why Z had such a good game. She can make plays. And she made plays for herself. She made plays for her teammates,” Fortier explained. Aokuso’s goal was to free up space and generate more high-percentage looks for the team, instead of repeatedly playing into the Pilots’ hands. “Being a playmaker, me being able to take away most of the defenders so my teammates can get open…trying to be aggressive as I can be,” Aokuso said. The dam broke in the third quarter, where the Zags outscored Portland 34-14 and, astoundingly, had no turnovers in the entire period. They took four threes in the half’s first five minutes, more than the three they fired from beyond the arc in the first half. Two of them were made by Whittaker, who had 13 points in the quarter and 22 overall. Paired with 10 rebounds, the redshirt freshman tallied her third-straight double-double, making it nine for her on the season. The Bulldogs shot 9-for-17 from the field and were clearly better equipped to handle PU’s press, often getting the ball to an open player as the defense scrambled to recover. “A little bit more poised…” Whittaker said on how the team played in the second half. “But I think we just played team basketball at the end of the day. That’s how we play normally, and that’s how Gonzaga basketball is kind of constructed to play, and so when we can execute that, good things happen.” No doubt Portland presented a unique challenge to GU, but without question, self-inflicted wounds are this team’s persistent wart at the moment. The good news is that the Zags are overcoming giving away possessions to their opponents, and when they are settled into their offense, they are as high-powered a unit as any, shooting a conference-best 46% from the floor and 39.6% from deep on the season. But if the team does manage to get the turnover issue in check, how far can they take themselves with a postseason run in mind?