WBB | San Francisco Hangs with No. 16/13 Gonzaga Early - University of San Francisco Athletics

Saturday, January 18

San Francisco

5 p.m.

University of San Francisco

7-12, 0-7WCC

Gonzaga

18-1, 7-0WCC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Gonzaga	16	20	14	19	69
San Francisco	14	10	14	8	46

Kia Vaalavirta was a perfect 3 for 3 from deep Saturday and 4 for 5 overall for 11 points against Gonzaga.

Photo by: Christina Leung

WBB | San Francisco Hangs with No. 16/13 Gonzaga Early

1/18/2020 10:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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SAN FRANCISCO — Limited numbers and tough odds Saturday didn't keep the University of San Francisco women's basketball team from putting forth one of its toughest efforts of the season against a top-20-ranked opponent. But No. 16/13 Gonzaga was still able to lock things down on the defensive end in the second half and pull away for a 69-46 West Coast Conference victory at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Still hampered with injuries and left with only eight active players, the Dons (7-12, 0-7 WCC) hung with the nationally ranked Bulldogs (18-1, 7-0 WCC) for much of the first half. Three consecutive turnovers midway through the first quarter allowed Gonzaga to turn a one-point game into an eight-point lead. But over the opening quarter's final three minutes, the Dons made four consecutive shots – three from Lucie Hoskova – and cut that lead down to only two at 16-14.
There were the Dons, hanging with their third top-20-ranked opponent of the season, trailing by only two after the first 10 minutes. And the possession arrow pointed to USF to start the second, giving it a chance to tie. But turnovers came back to bite the Dons again at the start of the second quarter, with three in their first five possessions.
That opened the door for the Bulldogs to put some space between themselves and the Dons while they opened the period shooting 5 for 6, including two 3-pointers. Gonzaga's balanced attack was on display during that four-minute stretch. The Bulldogs started the evening with no player averaging more than 11.6 points per game and seven players averaging at least 5.5 points per contest. And in that small spurt, they got buckets from four different players while also getting rebounds and assists from multiple players.
San Francisco still wasn't done, though. The Dons' defense was able to force three turnovers of their own and cut their deficit in half to six points, a run started by one of Kia Vaalavirta's three 3-pointers on the night. Gonzaga responded with two treys of its own in the final two minutes and pushed its lead back to 12 before halftime at 36-24.
The Dons continued to battle at the start of the second half. 3s from Vaalavirta and Rathbun dipped the deficit back under double digits each time, but six more turnovers in the third quarter did the Dons in. Gonzaga turned 18 USF turnovers during the game into 22 points, and while the Dons forced double-digit turnovers for the first time in three contests, they only scored seven points off of them.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

25: San Francisco outrebounded No. 16/13 Gonzaga Saturday, but it was held to its lowest number of rebounds in nearly two months. San Francisco had collected no less than 34 rebounds in 12 straight games, since being held to 22 rebounds against then-No. 10/8 Mississippi State on Nov. 28 in Victoria, British Columbia.
999, 499: Both Mikayla Williams and Leilah Vigil will have to wait one more game before reaching career rebounding milestones. Williams entered Saturday needing seven rebounds to reach 1,000 for her career, but she grabbed six. Vigil needed nine rebounds to reach 500 for her career, but she collected eight.

COMING UP

San Francisco hits the road next week for the second time during the conference season, going to second-place BYU on Thursday then crossing back to Southern California to face San Diego on Saturday. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.