Downed on The Farm
GEORGE NIKITIN/Associated Press Gonzaga’s Melody Kempton, center, rebounds between Stanford’s DiJonai Carrington, right, and Lacie Hull during the first half Sunday in Stanford, Calif.
STANFORD, Calif. — Gonzaga took No. 5 Stanford to overtime, and even led with just over 3 minutes left, but the Cardinals went on a run and beat the Bulldogs 76-70 on Sunday before 2,863 at Maples Pavilion.
Stanford led 60-57 with 54 seconds. With 48 seconds remaining, Jessie Loera found Jill Townsend on the left wing, setting Townsend up for the tying trey.
“I just had to step up with a lot of confidence to hit that shot,” Townsend said. “We got big shots at the right moments to put ourselves in position.”
Thirty seconds later, Loera was fouled by Stanford’s Lacie Hull, the former Central Valley High star. Loera stepped up to hit both free throws to give Gonzaga the 62-60 advantage with 16 seconds to go. The Cardinal Kiana Williams hit a driving layup with six seconds remaining to force overtime.
Gonzaga controlled the first two minutes of the extra period and led 64-63 with 3:18 remaining. But a quick 6-0 Stanford run saw the Zags fall behind by five with under two minutes remaining. Gonzaga cut the lead to three off a pair of free throws from Jenn Wirth with 1:26 remaining, but Stanford made 8 of 12 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
“We’re disappointed; we know how good they are and we know we’re a good team too,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “We talked a lot about winning the possession game because Stanford is so efficient…We wanted to be decisive. We out-rebounded them by one and we had one fewer turnover, but that wasn’t enough.”
Gonzaga (2-1) finished with four players in double-figures, led by Townsend with 18 points. Both Kayleigh Truong and Melody Kempton added 12 points; Kempton, a sophomore from Post Falls High, finished with 10 boards — which ties her career-high — to finish with the game’s only double-double. Loera added 10 points, six boards, four assists and a steal.
Stanford (4-0) was led by Williams with 22 points while Lexie Hull added 20.
Hull was unable to play against Gonzaga last year in Spokane as a freshman, making a game against her hometown team this season even more special. Gonzaga won 79-73 last season.
Hull scored eight points and grabbed a big rebound in the final 3 minutes on Sunday.
“Lexie made some big shots, some big free throws and played great defense,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “Gonzaga was aggressive and extremely physical and we had to battle through some turnovers.”
Gonzaga returns to play Friday at home against Eastern Washington.