Gonzaga Knocks Pilots Out of WCC Tourney

The Pilots drop a WCC first-round game to the Bulldogs 68-55 at the Chiles Center.

Photo Courtesy: portlandpilots.com

PORTLAND - Portland junior center Rachel Warren scored a team-high 16 points, but the Gonzaga Bulldogs prevailed over the Pilots 68-55 in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday at the Chiles Center.

Freshman guard Kendra Morris added 17 points for the Pilots, who end the season with a 10-20 overall record.

Gonzaga improves to 22-9 and moves on to face the San Francisco Dons in the second round on Saturday.

The Bulldogs led 33-28 at the half and outscored the Pilots by eight after the break en route to the win.

Conference Newcomer of the Year Heather Bowman led Gonzaga with a game-high 19 points. WCC Co-Player of the Year Stephanie Hawk added 15 points with a game-high nine rebounds, as the Bulldogs outrebounded the Pilots 38-31.

“When you play a team as good as Gonzaga, you have to shoot the ball well,” Portland head coach Jim Sollars said, whose Pilots shot 37 percent (22-for-60) from the floor. “And we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well.”

Six minutes into the second half, Morris pulled the Pilots within three at 42-39 with a jumper from just inside the three-point arc.

Gonzaga then embarked on an 18-5 run covering the next eight minutes to take a commanding 60-44 lead with just 5:48 left on the clock. Katy Ridenour capped the run with a three-pointer.

Gonzaga claimed its biggest lead moments later on traditional three-point play by Simone Santos that made it 68-50 with two minutes left.

“Gonzaga executes awfully well and its post players are good,” Sollars said. “They (the Bulldogs) take good shots and had an excellent percentage in the second half.”

The Bulldogs shot 47 percent (24-for-51) for the game and 56 percent in the second half.

“We had a few ‘space cadet’ moments and that contributed to them getting some fast break points and some easy shots,” Warren said. “We can’t afford to do that against a team like Gonzaga.”

The energized Pilots led for a lot of the first half. Trailing 6-0 early, Portland scored 11 straight points to take an early 11-6 lead.

Senior forward Anne Graner drilled a three-pointer from the left corner to give the Pilots the five-point lead.

Portland held on to the lead, which was still at five points when Warren converted a lay-up to make it 15-10 with 12:25 left in the first half.

After trying it at 19-19 minutes later on a lay-up from Jami Bjorklund, the Bulldogs took a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. A free throw from Maria Hasslet and a three-pointer from Hawk made it 22-19 in GU’s favor with 8:10 left on the clock.

The Pilots, who only turned the ball over five times in the second half, finished with 18 turnovers, which led to eight points for Gonzaga.

“We did a reasonably decent job rebounding and we have learned to not turn it over quite so much, and that’s very hopeful,” Sollars said.

Portland scored 15 points off of 14 Gonzaga turnovers.

Warren finished nine of 17 from the field and blocked three shots. Graner added nine points and five rebounds.

Portland outscored Gonzaga in the paint (34-24) and in points off the bench (21-16).

GU hit 15 of 20 free throws and five of eight three-pointers. The Pilots were 9-for-13 from the charity stripe and two of 10 on three-pointers.

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