Box Score
SPOKANE, Wash. --- The No. 19 Gonzaga Bulldogs used a big advantage on the boards and a balanced scoring attack to defeat the Portland Pilots 77-56 in a West Coast Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at the McCarthey Center. Cassandra Brown led Portland with a career-high 22 points, while Natalie Day added 12.
Brown is now averaging 12.6 points per game during conference play, and has upped her season average to 9.8.
Day, UP’s leading scorer and the number two scorer in the WCC, has scored in double figures every game this season. She also had 12 rebounds against the Bulldogs for her fourth double-double of the year.
After trailing by 14 at the break, the Pilots tried to climb back into it early in the second half. Kari Luttinen pulled Portland within 11 points with a nice lay-up, and moments later Cassandra Brown would make it just a 10-point game when she hit a three-pointer from the corner with 16:16 to play.
But that’s as close as UP (8-16, 1-9 WCC) would get as the Bulldogs (20-3, 9-1 WCC) would eventually stretch the lead to 27 points en route to the win.
12 different Bulldogs scored, led by Kayla Standish with a team-high 18 points.
Gonzaga out-shot the Pilots 42 percent to 33 percent and out-rebounded Portland 53-33. 24 of Gonzaga’s rebounds came on the offensive end of the court, leading to a 20-6 edge in second chance points.
The Pilots hung for most of the first after trailing by 10 early. A fast-break lay-up by Alexis Byrd, a three-pointer by Day and a pair of free throws from Brown helped spark an 11-5 Portland run to pull the Pilots within 28-24 with 3:17 left in the first stanza. But GU responded by ending the half with 10 unanswered points to claim a 38-24 advantage at the break.
Byrd and Day each had a team-high seven points during the game’s first 20 minutes.
Next up for the Pilots is another road trip as Portland heads to California next week for a pair of WCC games. On Thursday, Feb. 9, UP will be at Saint Mary’s for a 6 p.m. game, while Saturday’s (Feb. 11) contest at LMU is set for 2 p.m.
