SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Gonzaga women's basketball is in search of its second NCAA Tournament Elite 8 appearnce, as the fourth-seeded Bulldogs face No. 1 seed Texas tonight in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on ESPN.
Fast Facts
1 - The WCC is the only non-power six conference with a team competing in the Sweet 16 of both the NCAA men's and women's tournament.
2 - The WCC has had at least two teams in the NCAA Tournament nine of the last 12 years the tournament has been played.
4 - Gonzaga is 1 of 4 teams to have both its men's and women's team advance to the Sweet 16.
22 - Gonzaga's Yvonne Ejim leads the NCAA Tournament field in defensive rebounds with 22.
Gonzaga (32-3) has won 26 of their last 27 games and leads the country in three-point shooting percentage, shooting 40.1% for the season.
This will be Gonzaga's fifth Sweet 16 appearance (2024, '15, '12, '11, and '10) . The last time GU advanced to the Elite 8 was in 2011.
The game on Friday will feature the last four WCC Players of the Year with Shaylee Gonzales on Texas winning back-to-back with BYU (2021, '22) and then Kaylynne Truong (2023) and Yvonne Ejim (2024).
GU is one of four schools to have both its men's and women's basketball teams advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The WCC is one of three conferences to have both a men's and women's basketball team represented in the Sweet Sixteen.
Gonzaga boasts an experienced and balanced offense with all its starters averaging 10.4 or more points per game and combining for 366 starts. The Bulldogs' offense is 10th in the country (80.9 ppg).
Gonzaga ranks in the top eight in the nation in nine different categories: three-point percentage (1st, 40.1%), winning percentage (3rd, 91.4%), assists per game (4th, 19.8 apg), scoring margin (5th, 20.9 ppg), free throw percentage (5th, 79.7), three-pointers made (7th, 9.5), assist-to-turnover ratio (8th, 1.50), field goal percentage (8th, 48.6%), and rebound margin (8th, 9.3 rpg).
Yvonne Ejim leads the NCAA tournament field in defensive rebounds with 22 through the first two rounds. She has produced a double-double in five of the last six games and is 27th in the nation in double-doubles with 15 on the season.
Ejim is 12th in the country in field goal percentage (60.5%) and her program single season record of 282 made field goals is sixth in the nation.
Kaylynne Truong has combined for 10 assists through two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Truong (2.37) ranks 23rd in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio and is also 15th in the country in assists per game (5.8 apg).
Gonzaga has three sharp shooters averaging above 40 percent from behind the three-point arc. Brynna Maxwell leads the trio shooting 44.5% with Kaylynne (42.8%) and Kayleigh (40.9%) Truong not far behind. Brynna (No. 7), Kaylynne (No. 13), and Kayleigh (No. 25) all rank in the top 25 in three-point shooting percentage.
The WBCA announced its 52 region finalists for this season's 10-member WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches' All-America team on Tuesday. Yvonne Ejim was named to the WBCA Coaches' All-America Region 5 Team this week.
Ejim also earned Associated Press All-America honorable mention honors, announced last Wednesday. It is the second-straight year a Zag has earned AP honorable mention accolades (Kaylynne Truong, 2023).
Ejim is a finalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award and the Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year award.
In her 10th season, head coach Lisa Fortier ranks fifth among active Division I head coaches in winning percentage (81.0%) behind head coaches Tara VanDerveer (Stanford), Kim Mulkey (LSU), Geno Auriemma (UCONN), and Karl Smesko (FGCU).
Fortier is a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award and a finalist for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Coach of the Year award.
Santa Clara's (25-9) historic season came to an end in the second round of the WBIT with a loss at top-seeded Washington State last Sunday. Tess Heal finished with a game-high 18 points and added four rebounds and three assists.
Santa Clara's 25 wins this season were the second-most in program history, trailing only the 1990-91 team that went 28-3 and won the WNIT. Heal and Olivia Pollerd finished with the most points by a tandem in the team's history. They scored a combined 1,222, topping the previous mark of 1,095 set in 1990-91.
Pacific (19-15) came up short at Minnesota in the second round of the WNIT on Tuesday. Cecilia Holmberg led Pacific with 14 points. The Tigers finished the season with 19 victories for the first time since the 2018-19 season.