Arizona vs No. 20 Gonzaga | 2023 Jerry Colangelo Classic | 12.20.23
PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona vs Gonzaga
Yvonne Ejim scored 21 of her 27 points in the first half, Brynna Maxwell scored 14 of her 17 in a dominant third quarter and No. 20 Gonzaga defeated Arizona 81-69 on Wednesday in the Jerry Colangelo Classic.
It was the first meeting between the programs although the men's teams, both national powers, have played some memorable games over the years. It was also Gonzaga's fourth matchup against a Pac-12 team this season.
Behind Ejim, who was 10-of-12 shooting, the Bulldogs took a 38-32 halftime lead. Then Maxwell got hot, making all five of her shots, four of them 3-pointers, as the Zags outscored the Wildcats 29-14 in the third quarter to lead 67-46.
Starting with a Maxwell layup and ending with two Ejim baskets, Gonzaga scored the first eight points of the third quarter. When Maxwell hit her fourth triple in the closing seconds, the lead was 21.
The Bulldogs were 12 of 16 in the third quarter and were shooting 68% (28 of 41) entering the final 10 minutes.
Kayleigh Truong added 17 points for Gonzaga (12-2) on 6-of-7 shooting with four 3-pointers, making the Bulldogs 9 of 19 for the game. Her twin sister Kaylynne had six assists, the team had 20 on 32 baskets, to surpass 500 for her career, moving into third on the program list. Eliza Hollingsworth had 11 rebounds as the Zags won the boards 32-21. Ejim also had four blocks.
Kailyn Gilbert had 21 points and four steals to lead Arizona (8-4). Salimatou Kourouma added 17 points and Helena Pueyo had 12 with seven rebounds.
Ejim had two late baskets, giving her 10 points in the first quarter, as the Zags took a 15-14 lead. She opened the second quarter with another bucket and the Bulldogs stayed on top through the break.
The Bulldogs shot 64% (16 of 25) with three 3s in the first half. Arizona shot 41% and Pueyo and Gilbert both had 10 points, combing to shoot 9 of 14 while their teammates were 3 of 15.
Gonzaga returns home to face New Mexico on Friday afternoon before starting West Coast Conference play at Portland on Jan. 4. Arizona is home against Seattle on Dec. 31.
Go Zags !!!!
so happy that you tube has seemingly a lot more Gonzaga womens games featured...thx.....go zags!
Gonzaga cooked 🔥🔥🔥
Listened to live broadcast before watching replay. GU radio guy (shout out to Steve Myklebust!) mentioned the Phoenix Suns at least three times but did not mention the Mercury as also playing at Footprint Center. Why such an odd ommission? 🤔 I don't know but WNBA advertising itself during college basketball games is part of the marketing advice I have for the league. It seems an obvious thing to do but I assume so far the investment to buy the ad time is lacking. It will be more important but also more expensive to run ads during March Madness but some shorter less expensive primer ads (priming the audience to want more) may be a good idea over January and February.
Gilbert for Arizona 20 shots ONE ASSIST. Truong sisters 15 shot total ELEVEN ASSISTS. Coach?
Ejim was awesome as usual! GU radio guy mentioned interesting stat that Ejim was second in nation behind Caitlyn Clark in field goals made going into this game. At end of this game, they are now tied at 124 field goals each, but Iowa has played 2 less games than Gonzaga. Some more comparison... Clark is at 48.1% FG shooting, not in the top 50, Ejim was 13th before this game but going 13/18, raised her FG percent from 63.79 to 64.6. Of course, Clark (58/78 FT) is fouled a lot more than Ejim (34/38 FT) and hits many more 3-pointers (56 for Clark , O for Ejim) to be nation's top scorer. Before this game, Ejim was 6th in total points scored (without hitting a single three pointer). Stats not yet updated on NCAA website for yesterday's games.
The announcers 😭