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USF Women Fall to League-Leading Gonzaga 81-62
Jan. 20, 2005
(Spokane) - USF continued its three-game road trip Thursday with a showdown against league-leading Gonzaga, dropping a 81-62 decision in West Coast Conference action at the McCarthey Center. The Dons (7-10, 1-3 WCC) trailed from wire-to-wire against the Bulldogs (16-2, 5-0 WCC), who won their 12th consecutive contest.
Freshman guard Dominique Carter scored a team-high 16 points on 8-of-15 from the field, while sophomore guard Jennifer Katsuyama added 11 points. Senior center Mary Jane Krueger chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
USF once again got off to a slow start to the first half and did not score their first basket until the 15:59 mark on a bucket by freshman guard La Shaunte Stephens to make the score 9-2. Gonzaga built a 19-9 lead with 10:40 remaining and went up 24-11 at 8:36, but San Francisco closed to five points 30-25 on a Katsuyama 3-pointer. The Zags promptly used a 13-6 run to close out the half and took a 43-31 lead into the intermission.
USF shot a respectable .429 (12-28) in the first half, but the Bulldogs connected at a blistering .536 (15-28) clip, including a .625 (5-8) rate from long distance.
It was all Gonzaga in the second half as they continued to shoot the ball well throughout the lineup. USF cut the lead to single digits in the early going of the second period on a bucket by Carter at the 17:24 mark, but that would be the last time the Dons had the margin to single-digits. The Zags led by as many as 20 points in the closing seconds.
USF hit at a .417 (25-60) pace, while Gonzaga was at .564 (31-55), connecting on .593 (16-27) in the second half. USF hit .455 (5-11) from 3-point range, compared to .545 (6-11) for the Bulldogs. The Dons won the battle of the boards 33-30, including 13-7 on the offensive glass.
Gonzaga did it with balanced scoring as senior center Ashley Burke scored a game-high 18 points, leading no fewer than six Bulldogs in double-digit scoring.
San Francisco returns to WCC action Saturday afternoon when they take on Portland in the Rose City. Game time against the Pilots is scheduled for 2:00 PM at the Chiles Center.
