Kingston, Rhode Island was the last stop on the five month journey the Gonzaga women’s basketball team completed this season. Beginning the year with a home game November 11^thagainst Hofstra, the Zags were determined to pick up where they left off the 2010-2011 season, and they did. It was a great season that included a conference title and a trip the Sweet Sixteen—incredible accomplishments for an incredible group.

Gonzaga's road to the Final Four ended in Rhode Island Sunday

Unfortunately, after winning the first two games of the NCAA tournament, the third round was not so kind to the Bulldogs as Kentucky knocked off GU 79-62. It was quite a game to begin with, as it remained close for much of the first half. The Wildcats were going wild from the three, as they ended the game with 12 treys. Nearly half of their scoring came from outside, and they could hardly miss (they ended 12-21); and when your opponent is draining threes, it’s hard to stay in the game.

It’s even harder when you can’t answer with threes. Although the Lady Zags had the height and interior presence advantage, they were only 1-6 from beyond the arc, and quickly caught on that they were not going to be able to trade threes with UK. While the paint was where the Bulldogs could do the damage, the tenacity and feisty defense the Wildcats played on the perimeter was extremely productive, and preventative of allowing GU to pound the ball inside.

In many ways, the fact that the 11^th seeded Bulldogs even made it to the Sweet Sixteen was incredible. Kentucky, the two seed, definitely had their work cut out for them, as GU had already upset Rutgers (6) and Miami (3) to make it to Rhode Island. Yet going into the Elite Eight as a tournament, only the one and two seeds remain—indicating the selection committee was right on par with their rankings. For the Lady Zags to have won the first regional game would not have only been an upset, but it would have defied all other statistics, this just wasn’t the year for Cinderella to make a deep run.

It is only appropriate that the three starting seniors of the Bulldogs ended their careers with the double digit scoring. Kayla Standish provided the main offense for GU with 25 points. Kelly Bowen added 11 points and Katelan Redmon finished with ten. All three women had incredible careers at GU, and will leave some big shoes to fill next year.

Kentucky will face top seeded UCONN for a bid to the Final Four Tuesday, while Gonzaga ends the year with a 28-6 mark.

The Good: Gonzaga’s women upset Rutgers to advance to the next round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Bad: The men fell to Ohio State in the round of 32, ending their season at 26-7.

The Ugly: Whatever that stuff growing on the faces of the men’s team is.

THE GOOD: Lady Zags' bench celebrates

Zags don’t lose in the McCarthey Athletic Center, and that fact remained true as the 11^th seeded Lady Bulldogs took down No. 6 Rutgers 86-73. It was all blue as the Zags wore their dark uniforms as the away team, despite playing in their home gym. The Scarlet Knights never really had a chance, they trailed from the first basket and no way were the Zags or the crowd going to let them back in.

GU held a 20-4 advantage 10 minutes into the game, and kept that 15+ point lead most of the game. Kayla Standish led the team in scoring with 23 points. Kelly Bowen earned a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Also in double figures was Haiden Palmer with 21 and Taelor Karr who chipped in 14 points.

For Rutgers, Erica Wheeler took over the scoring with 28 point. Khadijah Rushdan grabbed a double-double with 16 points and 11 boards. In all fairness, it was rather rude for the selection committee to send a six seed to an 11 seed’s home gym across the country. In the words of the Scarlet Knight’s head coach C. Vivian Stringer; however, “it’s the arena we play in,” indicating that wherever her game is scheduled is where her team needs to play, no matter any other circumstances, they need to step up.

Gonzaga advances to the second round of the Big Dance to face third seeded Miami. The Hurricanes defeated No. 14 Idaho State Saturday. Game time is set for 6:30pm (PST) in Spokane.

THE BAD: GU's bench as the loss sets in

In Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon, Gonzaga came out playing tough as the men took on second seeded Ohio State. Until the last few seconds of the half, GU made a statement leading the Buckeyes. OSU took a two point advantage into the locker room at the half—they never looked back.

The Zags remained in the game, even after trailing by as much as ten in the second half, but in the end OSU avoided the huge upset with a 73-66 win. The Zags fought for the Sweet Sixteen, and brought it to a three point game with one minute to go, but things just didn’t fall their way.

By the looks of the box score, OSU should have dominated GU, as four of their starters were in double figures; however, their bench had no points. The Bulldogs added ten from the bench, keeping them that much closer—three starters were in double digits for GU.

Gary Bell Jr. led the Zags with 18 points and five assists. Elias Harris chipped in 16 points, while Kevin Pangos added 10. The Buckeye’s two big men, Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas each racked up 18 points, while Aaron Craft contributed with 17 and William Buford tossed in 13.

GU played three Big Ten teams this season, and lost all three of those games. I guess that conference just had the Zags’ number. And if nothing else comes from the loss, the nasty facial hair can disappear off the boys’ faces now that they lost.

THE UGLY: Gross facial hair growing on Rob Sacre and Elias Harris' faces during the tournament

Nnemkadi Ogwumike toppled the Zags with 33 points and 18 boards

Could it be possible? Could a team that lost their super-star All-American to graduation beat the squad that knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament—a team that ranks fifth in the country?

Well at halftime, it sure looked like Gonzaga had a chance to pull off the upset, considering the Zags were up 32-31. However, by the end of the second half, the Cardinal held a 76-61 advantage over the Bulldogs.

It was a good game. Stanford and Gonzaga are in the process of building a West Coast power rivalry, as they are two women’s basketball programs dominating the western region of the country and proving to be the top two teams in the west. Unfortunately, in the second game of the season, GU just wasn’t fully prepared to take on the enormous task of knocking of the perennial power.

Part of Stanford’s dominance is thanks to the Ogwumike sisters—they contributed a total of 52 points for the Cardinal. Nnemkadi, the older sibling, led all scorers with 33 points along with 18 rebounds. The younger sister, Chiney, tossed in 19.

For Gonzaga, Haiden Palmer had a team high 13 points. Taelor Karr and Kelly Bowen chipped in 10 apiece. The Sunday afternoon loss at Stanford dropped the Zags to 1-1 on the season.

GU will travel to Moscow, Idaho Thursday to play U of I at 6pm.

They both won. That is what counts initially—a 1-0 start to the season, the best way to begin. However, the Lady Zags accomplished their 101-88 win against Hofstra in a very different fashion than the men’s 77-69 victory over Eastern Washington University Friday at Gonzaga.

New Faces, Same Result

For the women, the key to their success is depth and plenty of talent. Obviously they can score, seeing as they broke the 100 point barrier in their first game of the year. The number of players that saw considerable time on the court also is proof of their depth.

Eight players saw double digit minutes in the contest; seven had over 20 minutes of court time, a sign of a strong rotation designed by Coach Kelly Graves. Four of the eight ladies are first year players for the Zags: Haiden Palmer, Taelor Karr, Sunny Greinacher, and Keani Albanez—two freshmen and two transfers.

Four ladies also notched double digit points; with Katelan Redmon accomplishing a double-double. Redmon had 15 points and 13 boards. Kayla Standish scored a team high of 22 points, with Kelly Bowen adding 17, and Palmer chipping in 14.

The talent on this roster is wide-spread and will definitely be put to the test as they face the perennial power of the west—Stanford—at The Farm on Sunday at 2pm.

A Narrow Escape

On the men’s side of things, Easter Washington came to play, and well, Gonzaga didn’t. The Zags snuck out the win at home against EWU, but that was only because the Eagles played their hearts out it caught up to them in the final minutes.

Eastern used up four time outs in the first half, and was out of team time outs before the first media timeout of the second half. That was a major factor in their loss Friday night. The other critical component to not pulling of the huge upset was five guys fouling out of the game.

If it weren’t for the timeout and foul situation, there is no doubt in my mind that the Eagles would have come away from the MAC with one of the biggest upsets in either schools’ history. Eastern played with a tremendous amount of heart, and had the mindset of winning the game, despite the majority of the spectators, and definitely all of Gonzaga presuming the matchup would be a blowout in favor of the Zags.

While the Eagles were busy trying to win the game, the Bulldogs were doing everything they possibly could to not lose it—although at times it seemed as if they were attempting to hand their regional competition the upset of the year in the first game of the season.

Gonzaga was 19 for 51 from the free throw line. That is terrible. That stat alone shows how horribly they played tonight. Free throw equals free points! If nothing else changed besides making all those freebies the Zags would have won by 40 points. However, they missed, causing a less than peaceful emotional roller coaster for everyone packed in the Kennel.

A surprising starting five took the court for the Bulldogs, and maybe that is what caused the inconsistency and poor play for Gonzaga. As predicted Rob Sacre, Elias Harris, Marquise Carter, and David Stockton were starters, but the fifth man—Mike Hart—was an absolute surprise to most of GU’s supporters (and probably Eastern’s team and fan base too).

What may have been even more of a shock than Hart getting the start was that he did not come of the court the entire second half! After only nine minutes in the first half, the walk-on, redshirt junior didn’t leave the floor in the final 20 minutes of the game.

Another interesting second half adjustment by GU was that while Stockton started at the point, Kevin Pangos finished the second half with 16 minutes, compared to David’s five. The freshman filled the role in crunch time, so it is only a question as to if he will continue to be the go to guy to run the offense, or of Stockton will remain the starter—especially with zero points and two assists in 19 minutes.

Rob Sacre tallied a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Elias Harris was the dominate player on the court showing tremendous power on offense and defense with 16 points and two blocks. Carter added 17 points for the Bulldogs, while Pangos kicked in 11—shooting a perfect six of six from the free throw line.

Just like the ladies, the men will be tested with a PAC-12 school, as they host Washington State Monday night at 9pm. That game will be featured on ESPN as part of the Midnight Madness Marathon.

Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot drives past a Stanford defender in the November matchup between the two teams.

One more win. One more upset. The eleventh seeded Bulldogs did it again.

Saturday night, the Zags beat seventh seeded Louisville to advance to the Elite Eight in a 76-69 win.

The Sweet Sixteen couldn’t get much sweeter for the Gonzaga women’s basketball team. The ladies got to play in front of a hometown crowd for the third straight game in the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs found a way to win against the higher seed for the third straight game as well.

Of course, what would a trip to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history be without a little drama, and some more record breaking at a school like Gonzaga? It wouldn’t be…that’s for sure.

The lady Zags came out and played amazingly well for the first 30 or so minutes of the game. At the 14:11 mark of the second half, the Bulldogs led by as many as 20 points.

Then, the drama played out. Louisville decided they weren’t about to let Gonzaga have their way with the Cardinals and slowly crept into that impressive lead.

With only 2:59 to go in the game, Louisville showed why they were in the NCAA tournament, and made it a three point game. It was 65-62 with Gonzaga hanging on to the slight lead. The last three minutes were GU’s to capitalize on.

Some clutch Zag free throws by junior Kelly Bowen, and seniors Janelle Bekkering and Courtney Vandersloot sealed the win.

Bekkering hit four consecutive free throws in the final minute and ended the night with 15 points.

Vandersloot, once again, showed the country why she is the leader of the Bulldog’s squad in tallying 29 points, seven assists, and seven steals.  It wouldn’t be a Courtney performance without another record though, so she decided it was time to break the all time NCAA single season assist record.

While it was quite difficult to watch the 20 point lead vanquish, it showed how the level of play in the NCAA tournament is so much higher than the West Coast Conference competition that Gonzaga is used to. Throughout league play, the Zags were accustomed to double digit leads that only grew larger as time dwindled down.

Louisville is not a WCC school though. In a valiant effort by the Cardinals freshman sensation Shoni Schimmel, who netted 18 points, the ladies from Kentucky demonstrated that they are from the powerful Big East conference. Twenty points was not insurmountable in their eyes. Although the Zags proved to be just a little too much for the Cardinals, what they did was remarkable.

For the Cardinals to make up 17 points in Spokane, in front of 10,000 Gonzaga fans, is worth applause. Keshia Hines and Tia Gibbs both had significant contributions for the University of Louisville team. Hines tossed in 17 points, while Gibbs scored 16.

Gonzaga will continue to make history as they become the first 11 seed in the women’s tournament to make the Elite Eight. Monday night will be a rematch the Zags eagerly await. GU will take on the No. 1 seed Stanford Monday night in the Spokane Arena at 6pm.

The Cardinal travelled to Spokane November 21^st where they squeaked out a win against the Bulldogs 84-78. The Zags are ready to keep the history books open and not let Stanford out of Spokane with another win.

Stanford beat North Carolina Saturday 72-65 to make the round of eight.