Townsend leads No. 17 Zag women to 16th straight, top USF

SPOKANE, Wash. — Jill Townsend scored 19 points and No. 17 Gonzaga won its 16th-straight game by ending San Francisco’s six-game winning streak 79-66 on Thursday night.

The Bulldogs, who had a nine-game break, were sloppy with 24 fouls and 18 turnovers but made up for it by going 11 of 21 from 3-point range, shooting 50% overall and posting a 44-26 rebounding advantage.

Gonzaga also played stellar defense on San Francisco freshman star Ioanna Krimili, who came into the game scoring at least 23 points in the last five games. The West Coast Conference’s leading scorer at 19.1 points a game, was held to seven, three coming from the foul line. Seven times she had at least five 3s in a game but went 0 for 2 on Thursday and was 0 for 6 with six points in the first meeting, a 76-52 Gonzaga win. Her two contests against Gonzaga were the only times she has been held to single-digit scoring this season.

Jenn Wirth scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Gonzaga (17-2, 12-0 WCC) and Kayleigh Truong added 11 points and five assists.

Lucie Hoskova topped the Dons (11-9, 7-7) with 19 points.

Gonzaga scored the last five points of the first quarter and the first 10 of the second for a 33-18 lead. It was 45-33 at the half after Truong’s buzzer-beating 3.

The Dons had one possession in the second half with a nine-point deficit but couldn’t challenge because they shot just 41%, going 4 of 18 from 3-point range, and 16 of 26 from the foul line.

Krimili was named the WCC Freshman of the Week for the eighth time on Monday, tying the conference record she shares with Gonzaga men’s freshman Jalen Suggs.

Santa Clara is at Gonzaga on Saturday when San Francisco plays at Portland.


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