Gonzaga Women Dominate Bakersfield in Opener

The Gonzaga Women finally tipped off their season on Sunday afternoon and they came out firing. True freshman Kayleigh Truong led all scorers with 18 points off the bench and the Bulldogs smacked Cal State Bakersfield, 92-48. Four Zags reached double figures.

Bakersfield kept it close for a quarter, but the Zags used a 16-0 run midway through the second quarter to break open the game. Truong, one half of the twin sensations from Texas, went 6-for-9 from the field, including 4-for-6 from deep, in her first collegiate game. Katie Campbell started out her senior year draining four more threes and scoring 13 points. The team went 10-for-22 from deep, which is encouraging after a less than stellar season from beyond the arc last year.

Speaking of twins, both Jenn and LeeAnne Wirth started their seasons with efficient offensive outputs. Jenn scored 17 on 6-of-9 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. LeeAnne was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor and scored 14 points. The two combined to go 9-for-12 from the foul line, blocked three shots and collected four steals.

In her first game back from injury, Jill Townsend played a team-high 25 minutes, scoring nine points and grabbing nine rebounds. Perhaps the most impressive stat was starting point guard Jessie Loera dishing out nine assists. As a team, Gonzaga had 22 assists on 33 made baskets.

Gonzaga held Bakersfield to 33 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers. They scored 35 points off those turnovers. The women are back in action on Thursday night at home against Tennessee-Martin before heading to Stanford a week from Sunday.