On November 14 the Zags defeated the Montana Grizzlies 67 to 60. Kaylynne and Kayleigh Truong led the way with 15 and 13 points respectively. Cierra Walker had 10 points and Anamaria Virjoghe pulled down 10 rebounds.
Last night, against Portland Lacie Hull's play at point guard was able and showed a strong handle. Down the road I'm hoping we can attack a press like that with some great movement and two or three terrific passes and turn it into a layup drill. Haley's triple double was wonderful. And how about Brooke Demetre catching those strong passes at the free throw line, turning, and hitting jumper after jumper. I would love to see that kind of shooting from all our bigs in the paint. I was sorry Kiki missed that slam near the final buzzer, otherwise she was great. On the whole, I felt encouraged. We need to follow that game up with an aggressive attacking offense and defense in Spokane.
Three years ago we went up to a packed arena in Spokane ranked in the top ten and lost to an unranked Gonzaga team. Our fifth game is against an unranked Bulldog team that will be feeding big-time off their great fans. Our team is not used to being defending national champs and we've all got to realize the size of the bullseye we're wearing this year. We certainly don't want to go into any game flat and make some hungry team's year. The Zags arena will be rocking and its a great opportunity for the Cardinal go into Spokane and play like national champions.
This season will be a re-building year for the Bulldogs, as their three leading scorers are gone - Jill Townsend, and the Wirth twins. But re-building at Gonzaga is different than at most other schools. As you know, their men's program is fantastic and for years their women's program has been at the top of the West Coast Conference and a tough "out" in the NCAA Tournament. As mentioned above, their fan base is voracious and their games are packed - especially when Stanford comes to Spokane.
So, even with mostly new players in 2021, the Zags will be a strong opponent. For instance, Bree Salenbien a 6'-2" freshman guard is their highest ranked recruit in program history. She's the 7th ranked guard in the 2021 Class nationwide. She was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Michigan for her last season in high school and averaged 25.6 points, 11 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 3.6 steals. (See what I mean?)
Esther Little is another 6'-2" freshman guard from Ipswich, England who has had 50 games of international experience. Last season she averaged 15.5 points, 19.5 rebounds (no, that's not a misprint), and 6.8 assists in the Women's Elite Academy League.(I wonder if Hannah Jump has come across Esther in her English national age-group experience?)
Payton Muma is a 5'-8" freshman guard who was the #2 ranked high school player in Colorado last season. (I would hazard a wild guess that Lauren Betts was #1.)
Maud Huijbens is a 6'-3" freshman forward and a long-time member of the Netherland's national age-group teams. Last year she averaged 12 points and 6.5 rebounds in the European U18 Championships.
Anamaria Virjoghe is a 6'-5" senior transfer from Targoviste, Romania. She was the MVP of the Romanian national team in the U18 European Championships.
Melody Kempton is a 6'-1" senior forward. She was the program's first WCC 6th woman of the year last season on Gonzaga's conference championship team.
Calli Stokes is a 5'-11" freshman guard who averaged 21 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.5 steals, and 3 assists per game as a senior and league MVP at Redondo Beach High last season.
And I can't omit their current set of twins, Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong. Kayleigh was a starter and solid contributor for the Zags last season. So, you can see, Lisa Fortier - who replaced Kelly Graves as head coach - and her staff are great recruiters. Re-building at Gonzaga is not a multi-year process full of angst and disappointment. No, the Zags will come out smokin and you take them lightly at your peril.
LET'S GO STANFORD!! MAKE THIS OUR BEST GAME YET!!
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