WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT: Bowman, Bulldogs squash Broncos

LAS VEGAS -- Heather Bowman led all scorers with 18 points as the top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs silenced No. 8 Santa Clara 87-47 in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament, halting the Bronco's (5-27) improbable tournament run and likely their season.

The Bulldogs (26-4) advance to the West Coast Conference Chamionship Game and play the winner of this afternoon's semifinal match up between No. 2 Saint Mary's and No. 3 Pepperdine.

Vivian Frieson scored 12 points and Courtney Vandersloot notched 10 and dished out eight assists as the Bulldogs squashed the Broncos by more than 30 points for the third time this season. The Bulldogs also extended their winning streak to a season high 17 games.

"It took us awhile to get our bearings rolling," Head Coach Kelly Graves said. Once we got it rolling, we cranked up the defense a little bit. When we can get offense off of our defense we're pretty good."

The surging Broncos entered Sunday's semifinals with maybe more confidence than its had all season; it snapped a nine-game losing streak with upset wins against No. 5 San Diego and No. 4 Portland, the latter of which was the team's only double-digit win against a Division I opponent this season.

"When teams struggle during the season, they just want the tournament over with," Graves said. "But they didn't, they fought hard."

"We came out strong, we just couldn't keep it going after the first 12 minutes," Head Coach Jennifer Mountain said, noting that the team was fatigued after playing their third game in as many days.

The Zags started slow. They didn't open up their first double digit lead until a Bowman deuce with 6:07 left in the first. That began a 19-4 run, capped off with a Tatriana Lorenzo free throw that pushed Gonzaga's lead to 25, its largest first half deficit. The lead expanded to as much as 44 in the second half.

It took awhile for Bowman and Vandersloot to heat up. The two started a combined 0-for-6 from the field. Bowman missed her first four shots, before connecting at the 10:30 mark. The bucket started a 19-2 Bulldog run. Bowman scored eight during the spurt.

But it was the defense that seemed to spark No. 17 Gonzaga. The Bulldogs forced a shot clock violation at the 6:52 mark, which ignited a 13-2 run. The defensive effort also included 16 steals.

"Our defense leads to our offense," Frieson said. "So when we aren't playing good defense, we aren't playing good offense.

The Zags established a post presence, scoring 60 of its 87 points in the paint. The Broncos scored just 26 points in the interior, though, and struggled to compete with forward Lena Gipson in constant foul trouble.

"Having Lena in foul trouble really hurt us," Mountain said. "We didn't have any post presence."

Gipson, Santa Clara's second leading scorer, played just 14 minutes in the first half after picking up three quick fouls. Heather Bowman held the junior double-double threat scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting in the first half – the Zags surrendered just 11 points in three games against Gipson this season. Gipson fouled out with 15 minutes left and finished with just four points. She notched a career-high 23 points in the quarterfinal win against Portland.

"She's been playing really well," Bowman said. "We knew we had to be physical. We had a plan of attack to keep the ball out of her hands as much as possible and eventually that did pay off and our defense is eventually what got us going."

The Zags also stifled Alyssa Shoji, the Broncos leading scorer. The sophomore scored eight points on 2-for-8 from the field.

Janelle Bekkering finished with 10 points and senior Tiffanie Shives tallied eight for the Bulldogs, while Katelan Redman chipped in with six off the bench. Kayla Standish scored six points and grabbed a team high 11 boards. Kelly Bowen also chimed in with six points.
Senior Maggie Goldenberger paced the Broncos with 14 points and five rebounds.
The Bulldogs feel they still have room for improvement with their most critical stretch still to come.

"We need to get inside, we need to be more physical," Frieson said. "Defensively, we're not exactly where we want to be."

Tomorrow the Zags will have to beat either Pepperdine or Saint Mary's for the third time this season.

"If we don't play well, we could lose to either," Graves said.

"They're dangerous, a tough team to beat," Mountain said, mentioning that Gonzaga has an exceptional transition game. "They have a great chance of going far in the NCAA Tournament."

Notes:

Santa Clara (5-17) defeated Gonzaga 77-66 in the 2005 West Coast Conference Championship game, the last time the two teams squared off in the postseason. The Broncos also topped the Zags in 1999 and 2003.

Gonzaga has defeated the Broncos eight consecutive times. The Bulldogs topped the Broncos 83-52 on Feb. 25 and 81-43 on Jan. 28.