2020-21 Player Preview: Kayleigh Truong

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team has enjoyed an embarrassment of riches at the point guard position over the years, and that won’t stop anytime soon thanks to Kayleigh Truong.

Coming off a freshman campaign where she earned All-WCC Freshman Honors, the Houston native will be expected to take a step forward as she takes over the reigns from Jessie Loera who is now playing professional basketball in Iceland. Truong demonstrated early last season that she has plenty of game with double-digit scoring efforts in three of the first four games while coming off the bench, highlighted by an 18-point debut in the season opener.

Truong proved to be a dependable rotation player who could run the offense when Loera took a breather while also playing off the ball and giving opposing defenses different looks. After dealing with a minor injury in January that caused her to miss a game, Truong was asked to step up in February once Katie Campbell was lost with a season-ending ACL injury and she was moved into the starting lineup. The Zags had some struggles as they adjusted to life without Campbell, including Truong as she adjusted to a different role while still experiencing the growing pains of a true freshman, but she also showed plenty of promise and Gonzaga fans should be optimistic that the team is in very capable hands moving forward.

As a freshman, Truong established herself as a versatile threat for Lisa Fortier, hitting 37% of her three-point attempts while averaging 2.7 assists per game, 2 rebounds, and 1.1 spg. Making the simple play, eliminating her turnovers, and improving her assist-to-turnover ratio will be a key area of focus now that she’s tasked with running more of the offense, although she will not have to do it all by herself since she has the help of transfer guard Cierra Walker and her twin Kaylynne in the backcourt.

Truong has a dynamic game and is really fun to watch, so she won’t want to reign in her aggressiveness too much. Fortier will depend on Truong to continue evolving while maintaining an assertive brand of basketball that fits Gonzaga’s style of play. If Truong can do that, we should see another fantastic campaign for her and the team.