LAS VEGAS — The Portland women’s basketball team did it again. And this time, the Pilots beat a Gonzaga team that hadn’t tasted defeat in 107 days.
Portland stunned the top-seeded Zags, winning 67-66 to defend its crown in the Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship at Orleans Arena. Coach Michael Meek’s Pilots have now won three WCC tournament titles in his five seasons, and they were underdogs in all three.
Gonzaga had won a conference-record 24 consecutive games and beat every WCC opponent by double-digit margins. The Pilots lost to the Zags by 50 points just two weeks ago.
“I think we kind of like that position of being underdogs and proving everyone wrong,” said junior guard Maisie Burnham, who scored 15 points and was named to the all-tournament team. “We kind of came into this game saying there’s no pressure on us, and that’s the best position to be in when we can play free and aggressive and dictate that.”
The Pilots (21-12) arrived in Las Vegas as the No. 3 seed and needed to win three games in four days to repeat as champions. Meek said his team played probably its three best games of the year, but acknowledged the underdog role was well-earned.
“In this case, when you lose by 50, you’re the underdogs, right?” he said. “More than that, we just didn’t feel like we came to play last time. I wouldn’t say we envisioned this, but I definitely felt we could play a way more competitive game than we did that last game.”
The Pilots shot 26 percent in the 90-40 loss on Feb. 28 and allowed Gonzaga to convert 53 percent. The numbers were flipped on Tuesday, with Portland making 54 percent and the Zags just 37 percent. The nation’s most efficient three-point team, Gonzaga was 5-for-20 from beyond the arc against Portland’s matchup zone.
Gonzaga (30-3) pounded Portland on the boards, forging a 43-24 rebounding edge, including 25 offensive rebounds that led to a 22-5 advantage in second-chance points. But they never found a rhythm on offense and couldn’t stop Portland from executing when it had the ball.
“Mike Meek always has some stuff up his sleeve for the tournament,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. "A lot of how they got their baskets was stuff we’ve already scouted against. Maybe they just did it better.”
“We’re not this bad defensively and we’re not this bad offensively. I did think at some point our offense was going to carry us.”
Portland broke a 64-all tie when senior Emme Shearer made a three-pointer with 1:38 left. The Zags closed to 67-66 when Kaylynne Truong made a jumper with 1:15 to play. Neither team could convert again, leaving Gonzaga with one last possession.
Even on the game’s final play, the Zags could not get the shot they wanted. Inbounding with 10.9 seconds left, the best they could do was a desperation 25-foot heave by Kaylynne Truong that didn’t come close.
“We were just looking for any good option,” Fortier said. “We were trying to keep the ball a little bit away from (Lucy) Cochrane, if we could. She got the block yesterday so we didn’t want to bring it to her if we didn’t have to.”
Cochrane, the Pilots’ 6-foot-6 center, blocked the final shot Monday to clinch Portland’s semifinal win over Santa Clara. She had four blocks against Gonzaga — giving her 100 for the season — along with 11 points, seven rebounds and two steals in 39 minutes.
Referring to her deterrent value on the final sequence, Meek said, “That’s what Lucy brings. To me, defensively she’s just different than anybody else in the league.”
Senior forward Kennedy Dickie, who averaged 18.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in three games, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. In her first season with the Pilots, she scored 16 points in the title game.
“I’ve been working my whole career for this, and it means everything to me,” she said. “I can’t put it into words, but (my teammates) mean everything. I was new this year and they just took me in. They’re a family and I’ll have the best relationship with them forever.”
Gonzaga didn’t look like the team that hadn’t lost since Thanksgiving weekend. “We were telling each other we look very tense,” senior guard Kayleigh Truong said. "I don’t think we ever found our rhythm or relaxed. I think we were just thinking too much instead of letting the game come to us.”
Senior forward Yvonne Ejim, the WCC Player of the Year and WCC Defensive Player of the Year, had 17 points and 11 rebounds but shot 8-for-20. Eliza Hollingsworth, who joined Ejim on the all-tournament team, scored 11 points on 6-for-15 from the floor and grabbed 11 rebounds. Brynna Maxwell added 15 points.
Fortier didn’t want to concede her team felt the pressure but acknowledged it’s a different challenge to live up to the standard of winning on such a consistent basis. By comparison, she agreed with Burnham that the Pilots were able to play without expectation.
“The teams that don’t have the pressure on them can come down here and play free,” she said. “They’ve had that advantage and they’ve made the most it.”
The West Coast Conference will once again be a two-bid league as Portland gets the WCC’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament and Gonzaga is expected to get an at-large invitation.
2024 Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship
All-Tournament Team
Maisie Burnham, Portland
Kennedy Dickie, Portland
Yvonne Ejim, Gonzaga
Eliza Hollingsworth, Gonzaga
Anaya James, Pacific
Most Outstanding Player
Kennedy Dickie, Portland