After the loss has sunk in, the Gonzaga women’s basketball team will look back on Senior Day with fondness.
It will be for everything involving the players celebrated, not for the way the Bulldogs played Saturday afternoon.
They didn’t have much to commemorate on the court.
San Francisco made sure of that as the Dons completed a West Coast Conference sweep of the Zags with a 70-68 decision before 5,540 at McCarthey Athletic Center.
A Lisa Fortier-coached team had lost on Senior Day just once going into Saturday, and that happened in her first season.
The loss could likely keep the Zags from winning the WCC regular-season championship outright. Gonzaga slipped to 20-9 overall, 15-3 in the WCC and tied with Portland. The Zags hold a tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed to the postseason tournament by virtue of sweeping the Pilots.
The Zags opened WCC play by losing at San Francisco 73-58 on Dec. 19.
Gonzaga has improved much since the start of the season, to be sure. But that improvement wasn’t evident against the Dons.
Luana Leite made 3 of 4 free throws in the final nine seconds to hold off the Zags.
Turnovers – a theme for much of the season – were costly for Gonzaga, not so much the total (17) but the timing of the final two, which came in the last 31 seconds.
“Those two hurt us more than the rest,” Fortier said. “But our defense wasn’t very good. We’re not a team that can consistently give up 70 points and win.”
After Leite made 1 of 2 free throws for what would prove to be the final margin, Gonzaga had the ball with seven seconds left. With no timeouts, the Zags moved up the court quickly with Bree Salenbien taking a pass from Yvonne Ejim on the wing and driving hard to the basket. But her shot didn’t fall at the buzzer.
Ejim has an idea why the Dons have given the Zags two of their three WCC losses.
“They’re physical and they play hard every single game,” Ejim said.
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Yvonne Ejim (15) heads to the basket against San Francisco Dons forward Emma Trawally Porta (7) during the second half of a college basketball game on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash. The San Francisco Dons won the game 70-68. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
Fortier stopped short of saying more fouls should have been called.
“They’re super physical. They foul every time you move and they don’t call that,” Fortier said.
Gonzaga had to overcome poor starts in the first and third quarters. The Dons got out to a 9-1 lead in the game.
The Zags fought back to lead by the end of the first quarter, and Gonzaga used a good second quarter to take a 34-25 lead into halftime.
But a 7-0 start in the third quarter pulled San Francisco (13-14, 10-8) within 34-32.
Angeliki Ziaka’s basket gave the Dons a 52-50 lead with 1:12 to go in the third.
Gonzaga graduate forward Maud Huijbens put her team back in front 53-52 when she made a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Huijbens had 11 of her 13 points at that point in a dominating third period.
Nothing came easy inside in the fourth quarter. Huijbens powered in for a basket and Yvonne Ejim got a putback, but that was it in a game in which the Zags hoped to use their athletic advantage in the key.
Ejim reached double figures for a 71st consecutive game, leading the Zags with 19 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots. She also had a team-high six turnovers.
Huijbens had 16 points, six rebounds and two assists; sophomore wing Claire O’Connor had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists; and freshman point guard Allie Turner had 10 points and five assists.
“I know it wasn’t the way we wanted it to go,” Huijbens told the crowd during postgame speeches.
Fortier and players bemoaned the Zags’ defense, especially in transition, allowing the Dons to get loose for 10 3-pointers.
“Transition (defense) really killed us, especially in the third quarter,” Fortier said. “It was masked by the fact we were also scoring.
“In hindsight, I probably should have (called a timeout) to stop the bleeding a little bit and get us reorganized defensively.”
“They got a lot of runouts on us, a lot of easy baskets,” GU senior wing Esther Little said. “We struggled to find our flow on offense.”
The Zags conclude regular-season play with two road games, beginning Thursday at Pacific and concluding Saturday at Santa Clara.
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