Women's Basketball

Faraudo: Women's Semifinal Recap

By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops Columnist | ARCHIVES
2020 WCC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

LAS VEGAS — The Portland women’s basketball team stared down a 20-point deficit against the nation's 11th-ranked team and did not blink.

Gonzaga was nearly perfect for 8 minutes on Monday, scoring on its first 13 possessions to forge a 29-9 lead in the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament semifinals. But the Pilots fought back within four points by halftime, played even throughout the second half and completed the 70-69 stunner when sophomore Haylee Andrews scored on a 10-foot jumper in the lane with 3.6 seconds left.

Gonzaga guard Jessie Loera’s running 20-footer at the buzzer missed and Portland had pulled off one of the biggest surprises in WCC women’s tournament history.

Here’s some context:

— Portland had lost 23 straight to Gonzaga, dating back to a 70-67 win on Feb. 8, 2009.

— The Bulldogs became just the second No. 1 seed since 1994 to not advance to the WCC title game.

— Portland, under first-year coach Michael Meek, was 15-75 in WCC play the previous five seasons and was picked by the league’s coaches to finish last this season.

But here they are within a victory of advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1997. The Pilots (20-11), with their highest win total in 23 seasons, face No. 2 seed San Diego (20-10) in Tuesday’s 1 p.m. WCC championship game.

“I continue to be so proud of this team,” Meek said, “not for the wins and losses, but for how much they stick together and how much they care about each other, all the things that we can control.”

What Gonzaga did early seemed entirely out of Portland’s control. The Zags shot 13-for-14 over the game’s first 8 minutes — a ridiculous 92.9 percent — to lead by 20.

Curiously, that was the same lead Portland held over Gonzaga in their WCC opener back on Dec. 29. The Zags stormed back to win that one, but the Pilots knew they were capable of establishing a lead against the WCC’s best team.

“Because of that game, knowing we had been up 20 one time, I knew it would be a long-shot but I felt like anything's possible,” Meek said. “This team is just so tough and so resilient.

“Sometimes when you get a big lead like that, all of a sudden you see momentum shift. I think our team fed on that. It was a great comeback.”

Coach Lisa Fortier, whose Zags (28-3) are still a lock to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament, had praise for the Pilots but was not surprised by their performance.

“I think they were really good when they got us down 20 (in December), we were just a little bit better that day,” she said. “Today we needed to be better defensively to stop them because they are problematic offensively. 

“They run a lot of good offense and they have players who make baskets if they get in the paint and they’re hard to keep out of the paint.”

That’s what happened on the Pilots’ final possession. Jenn Wirth had scored a layup with 8.6 seconds left to give Gonzaga a 69-68 lead, capping a 21-point performance.

Andrews inbounded to fellow Australian Alex Fowler, who got the ball back to Andrews for the game-winner.

“We’ve had that play in for a while now,” Andrews said. “My team trusted me to take the final shot and I was just lucky enough that it went in.”

Getting to that point required the Pilots to outscore Gonzaga 39-22 over the second and third quarters. And it meant blocking out a gruesome start to the game.

“Just the whole second quarter got our intensity up,” said Andrews, who scored 16 points. “We got the nerves out.  Our shots started to fall, we stared playing better on defense. Going into the halftime, we were really confident.”

Freshman Alex Fowler led the Pilots with 22 points and Kate Andersen added 28. 

A short celebration: Meek said the trick now is for his team to turn the page on an emotional victory and be in the right frame of mind for the championship game.

“It’s great to see them celebrate in the locker room,” he said. “But where you’re really got to show  a lot of toughness is coming off a game like this . . . we’re going to have to come ready to go tomorrow.”

Andrews said that won’t be an issue. “We came here for one reason, that was to win a championship,” she said. “Yeah, we won this game. But now it’s time to put it behind us and get prepared for tomorrow’s game.”

Gonzaga defense off its game: The Zags led the nation in fewest points allowed this season, but Fortier conceded her defense did not play to its usual level.

“Portland played a really good game. I don’t think we played a bad game ourselves, but defensively we didn’t have it,” she said. “That was one of our best first-quarter efforts offensively that we’ve had all season, but you have to get stops and we didn’t get enough of them tonight.”

Fortier said the game plan focused on slowing the threesome of Fowler, Andrews and Andersen. “Today we couldn’t stop those guys,” she said. “They got us on fakes, they got us around the basket and they shot a high percentage, all of them.”

The waiting game: The Zags have been projected as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, meaning they would play first- and second-round games in Spokane. Now that scenario is a little less certain.

“It’s a bummer that we can’t control our destiny. We’ve done it to this point,” Fortier said. “We know we’re in the field. We did our best. We’ll be watching. That’s what a basketball player, a basketball coach’s life is like in March. We’ll be happy to be going wherever they send us.”

The prospect of returning to the NCAA tournament was small consolation immediately after the loss on Monday. “There’s a lot of hurt people in the locker room right now,” said WCC Player of the Year Jill Townsend. “We came here not even thinking about the NCAA tournament. We came here to hold the trophy tomorrow. It hurts to go down like that.”

Foul problems: Townsend scored 15 points, but was limited by fouls to 23 minutes and was done after picking up her fifth personal with 5:15 left. LeeAnne Wirth fouled out with 1:37 to play.

“I didn't agree with all the calls but those are the calls that are made,” Fortier said. “When you’re playing without, it just changes the game plan a little bit. It didn’t go our way with the foul situation today.”

Stat of the Game: Gonzaga allowed opponents to score just 51.3 points per game this season, but Portland had 53 by the end of three quarters.

Quote of the Game: “I was watching Haylee last year so I had an idea who Gonzaga was. They’re a really good team and when we played them first this year I was obviously really nervous. I was for this game, too. It was a really good win for us.” — Portland freshman Alex Fowler, when asked what she knew about Gonzaga last year while at home in Australia.

SAN DIEGO 59, PEPPERDINE 44

The second-seeded Toreros (20-10) used an 11-1 run closing out the third quarter to break open a tie game and take charge on the way to advancing to the tournament championship game.

Myah Pace and Letitia Soares each scored 19 points for USD, which won more decisively than it did most of the time while assembling 13 WCC regular-season victories. Ten of those came by single-digit margins, but San Diego wasn’t seriously challenged in the fourth quarter.

USD faces fourth-seeded Portland in the WCC title game after losing to Gonzaga in the 2018 championship round. Making a repeat appearance came after the Toreros pulled off an 11-game regular-season improvement over a year ago, when they were 2-16 in conference action.

Defense has been USD’s anchor this season, and the Toreros never left Pepperdine get comfortable. The Waves (16-15), who knocked off third-seeded BYU in the quarterfinals, shot just 29.8 percent from the field, made just 2 of 17 attempts from the 3-point arc, and had 15 turnovers.

“Credit to USD. I thought they did a great job,” first-year Pepperdine coach Kristen Dowling said. “They had a good game plan, were well-coached and well-prepared.”

What a difference a year makes: There was a reason the Toreros struggled so mightily a year ago, Fisher pointed out.

“We had five season-ending injuries, one being Myah Pace that didn’t play for us, and Jordyn (Edwards) who was sitting out last year, so the addition of these two has obviously made a huge impact,” Fisher said. Pace was a first-team All-WCC pick this season and Edwards landed a spot on the second unit.

Fisher said everyone on the roster improved her game, but noted that last season’s struggles had one significant benefit.

“It also made them hungry. It made them want a year that they’re not going to repeat that year,” she said. “I told this group from day one that they’re a very special group, and that’s exactly what they’re doing.”

Proud in defeat: Dowling, who took over the Waves program this season, was pleased with her team’s efforts at Las Vegas. “It’s the first time in 10 years that Pepperdine has won two games,” she said. “They battled, not just today but all year. Even if the calls weren’t right or whatever, our team battled all year. I’m just so proud of these young women, and Pepperdine is proud of these young women.”

USD’s Fisher was impressed. “They’ve had a fantastic season, so a lot of credit to them for making it this far and giving us all we could handle today,” she said.

It was a tough outing for Barbara Sitanggan, Pepperdine's senior all-WCC guard. She shot 1-for-10 and wound up with four points to go with six rebounds and five assists in her final college game.

Afterward, she was focused on the big picture. “My journey was pretty hard. I had three head coaches in the four years I was here,” Sitanggan said. “A big thing was perseverance, especially for the girls that are here now. It’s been a long road. I’m proud of every single one of my teammates and coaches that have helped us push through this long season and the four years I’ve been here.”

Dowling called Sitanggan “the glue” on her roster. 

“Even if she wasn’t leading the team in scoring, she was leading the team in just about every other category. For someone her size (5-foot-6), that’s pretty impressive,” Dowling said. “Obviously I’m biased, but I think she’s the best point guard in the conference. We love her.”

Stat of the Game: USD held Pepperdine to 26.9 percent (7-for-26) from the field in the second half.

Quote of the Game: “For us, that’s been every single game. It starts with defense and then leads to offense.” — USD redshirt freshman guard Jordyn Edwards on defense being the team’s identity.