Kaylynne Truong’s Year of Growth

Kaylynne Truong’s sophomore season was all about contributing while also increasing her comfortability on the court. Her freshman season showed promise as a sharpshooter and backcourt role player in limited minutes.

For the most part, that comfortability was present, as Truong took over some ball handling responsibilities when spelling her sister Kayleigh Truong and transfer Cierra Walker. That increase in workload saw Truong both expand her game as a passer but also a regression in her outside shooting.

Truong entered the year with the highest three point percentage from the previous season, shooting 43.9% on 41 attempts over 2019-2020. This year, because of the sharpshooting of Walker, Truong’s shooting still was not the primary perimeter threat for the team. She increased her attempt total to 66 but shot 33.3% for the year.

As previously mentioned, her passing took a major step forward, seeing her assists total go from 53 to 81 for her sophomore season in just 21 additional minutes. And that playing time, 17.2 minutes per game, could be a contributing factor for Truong not easily matching her shooting percentages. Her field goal percentage also dipped from 42.6% to 35.5%.

The increased dependability and progression in running coach Lisa Fortier’s system only bolsters Truong as a helping hand moving forward. Truong saw her assist to turnover ratio go from 1.6 in 2019-2020 to 1.72 in 2020-2021. And that trend will need to continue for Gonzaga to right the ship after a frustrating turnover-laden loss to the upstart Belmont Bruins in the NCAA tournament.

With her sister and Walker likely to hold on to similar roles, Kaylynne Truong will be contending with incoming four star freshman Bree Salenbien for minutes in the back court. Salenbien is the seventh ranked point guard in this year’s class and is one of the highest rated players recruited to the Lady Zags.

Truong’s diligence in gaining comfort on the court should help carve out plenty of time moving forward and help steady the backcourt as they look to grow. In a turbulent year with nothing guaranteed, Truong showed the incremental growth that this program champions year in and year out.