WOMEN'S WCC: Gonzaga defeats Pepperdine, claims title

LAS VEGAS – Courtney Vandersloot earned tournament MVP honors as Gonzaga completed a conference sweep with a 76-48 win against Pepperdine – the Zags (27-4, 14-0 WCC) have won 18 straight games and are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season and the third time in program history.

Heather Bowman, Vivian Frieson and Vandersloot all received first team all-tournament accolades. For Bowman it was her fourth such honor.

Vandersloot scored a game-high 19 points and had eight assists while Bowman scored 14 as the Bulldogs became the first women's team in conference history to combine an unblemished regular season conference slate with a perfect tournament.

"This is the most dominant team that has ever played in this conference," Head Coach Kelly Graves said. "You can back that up with stats."

The Bulldogs won its two tournament games by 40 and 28 points respectively and won their 14 regular season conference match ups by more than 30 points per game – the highest average scoring margin ever in conference.

"We passed every test," Graves said. "That's difficult to do. There's a lot of pressure on this team to perform."

Round three against Pepperdine (20-10, 9-5 WCC) didn't play out like the previous two, where Gonzaga built halftime leads of 27 and 25 points. In this one, with a tournament berth on the line, the Waves entered intermission down just 34-26. A 10-0 Pepperdine burst late in the first half cut the deficit to four and forced a Graves timeout.

"A championship game of a tournament is not going to be easy, no one team is going to roll over," point guard Courtney Vandersloot said of the team's first half which included nearly squandering a 14-point advantage. "We just had to keep our composure."

Katie Menton's triple to start the second half cut Gonzaga's lead to five, but the Bulldogs reeled off a 14-2 run, punctuated with a nifty reverse layup from Bowman, who scored eight of her 14 points in the second half.

"We rebounded the basketball better, we got the transition going," Graves said of second-half turn-around.

"For a good 25 minutes plus, we played toe-to-toe," Pepperdine Head Coach Julie Rousseau said. "Their substitutions, bringing people in, really hurt us."

    With 12 minutes left, Bowen found Bowman in stride for a fast break bucket, pushing the Bulldog lead to 24 – its largest to that point. The gap swelled to as much as 31 points in the second half.

"I think our rebound to finish this is as fast as any team in the country, we didn't get a lot of those today, but we got enough."

The Bulldogs controlled the glass; they out rebounded Pepperdine 47-33 and received double-digit board performances from Kayla Standish and Vivian Frieson.

Standish recorded a double-double off the bench and made the most of her minutes during the tournament. The sophomore forward scored 10 points to go along with 14 rebounds – this after an 11-rebound performance Sunday.

"She's just so athletic, she is a phenomenal athlete, she can run she can jump," Graves said. "I think she played 32 minutes and had 24, 25 rebounds. That's pretty good production [See Tony Schick's story on Standish].

Frieson scored seven points and snatched 12 rebounds.

The Zags started frenetic, but sloppy in their first offensive possessions. Frieson saw her first shot rattle out, Vandersloot's contested shot missed, and Shives launched a few threes with ample time on the shot clock. Gonzaga attempted five threes in the game's first four minutes.

Lauren Bell charged the Waves with 16 points while Miranda Ayim – held scoreless by the Zags in Spokane last month – posted 10 points and four rebounds. Jazmine Jackson had six points and 10 boards.

Ultimately it was penetration that opened up holes for the Bulldogs. The trio of Jackson, Bell and Lelo appeared helpless in stopping Vandersloot, the West Coast Conference Player of the Year. During one first-half sequence she went coast to coast, blazing past Jackson before finishing with a Barnett foul.

"We have so many threats, they have to take away something, tonight it seemed like they were taking away our wings, our shooters, and it cleared up the basket for me," Vandersloot said.

She scored 14 of her 19 points in the first half. Seven of her eight assists, however, came in the second half.

"I know that she's just a magical passer," Bowman said of Vandersloot. "She's gonna get you the ball, she really just gets this team going."

"They have a connection like I've never seen," Graves said, comparing Vandersloot and Bowman to John Stockton and Karl Malone.

Bowman and her teammates cut down the nets after her third conference tournament championship in four seasons. She savored the moment.

"I'm going to hold onto it as long as possible," Bowman said.

Gonzaga will learn its tournament fate March 15, on the selection show at 1 p.m. PST on ESPN.

"I think this is a team that is better suited to continue to play," Graves said.