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Women's Basketball Defeats Wyoming 68-58
Nov. 23, 2008
LARAMIE, Wyo. - The Bulldog tandem of Heather Bowman and Courtney Vandersloot combined for 46 points to lead the Gonzaga University women's basketball team to a 68-58 victory over the University of Wyoming Sunday afternoon at Arena Auditorium in Laramie, Wyo. With the victory the Zags secured their best start in Gonzaga school history at 5-0. The previous best start was 4-0 reached both last season and in 1993-94. The Cowgirls fell to 2-2 on the season with the 10-point setback to the Bulldogs. "This was a good win against a very good team that doesn't lose at home very often," said head coach Kelly Graves' right after the game. "They make you play hard for every possession. This was a great hard fought win." Bowman, who continues to regain form since her Nov. 2 elbow surgery, was unstoppable against Wyoming. She finished four points off her career high with 28 by hitting 9-of-19 from the field and 10-of-11 at the charity stripe. The junior also had a team high 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the year and 15th overall. Vandersloot's, on the other hand, has scored double-figure points in all five games this season. The sophomore point guard finished with 18 on 6-of-13 from the floor, including 1-of-2 on three-pointers, and 5-of-6 at the free throw line. Vandersloot also had four assists, four rebounds, two steals and one block for Gonzaga. The Bulldogs controlled most of the first half, running out to an early 20-7 lead at 11:30 with a 13-0 spurt. Vandersloot was the catalyst early on scoring six of the 13 points in the Zags opening run. Gonzaga held its lead above nine for the rest of the half and held its largest lead in the opening frame at the 6:16 mark when junior Vivian Frieson scored a layup to put the Bulldogs up 16.
The Bulldogs went into the locker room with a 35-22 cushion. Wyoming came out strong in the second half though, breaking through Gonzaga's stingy defense to cut the Zags lead to only six at 37-31 five minutes into the half. The Cowgirls continued to fight; slicing the Zags lead to five multiple times over the next six minutes but the Bulldogs always seemed to have an answer. Wyoming then got within four points of tying the contest after Elisabeth Dissen made a layup with a little more than six minutes to play to put the score at 50-46. Gonzaga responded with back-to-back buckets by sophomore Janelle Bekkering and Bowman to put its lead back to eight. The Bulldogs finally used an 8-3 run which open up a double-digit lead at 63-53 and put the game out of reach with 1:22 left in the contest. Gonzaga closed out the game shooting 32.9 percent from the field, hitting 23-for-70. After an off shooting night from the free throw line Friday, only hitting 9-of-18, the Bulldogs regained focus and made 20-of-24 attempts, 83.3 percent. The Bulldogs continue to take great care of the ball, only turning it over six times against the Cowgirls. Wyoming was a bit sloppier, giving up the ball 20 times, 14 of which the Zags were credited with a steal. For the first time this season Gonzaga was outrebounded. Wyoming finished with 49 rebounds and GU only had 43. Cowgirl Kristen Scheffler kept Wyoming in the contest, scoring 21 points. Megan McGuffey and Elisabeth Dissen did the work on the boards, grabbing 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively for UW. Gonzaga now travels to Milwaukee, Wisc., for the WBCA Classic hosted by Marquette University Nov. 28-30. The Bulldogs first game is set for Friday, Nov. 28 against host Marquette at 5 p.m. PT. |
