Jenn Wirth scored 19 points, Jill Townsend added 18 and the No. 21 Gonzaga women’s basketball team ended its regular season with a 77-39 rout of Loyola Marymount on Saturday.
The Zags (21-3 overall, 16-1 West Coast Conference), who have won five straight conference titles and 17 overall, outscored the Lions 43-8 over the second and third quarters.
As the No. 1 seed, Gonzaga has a double-bye into the WCC tournament semifinals and won’t play until a week from Monday in Las Vegas.
Gonzaga honored seniors Townsend, Jenn Wirth, LeeAnne Wirth, Gillian Barfield and Louise Forsyth before tipoff.
“I’m just really happy for our team and our seniors to be able to celebrate like this,” Zags coach Lisa Fortier said. “I thought we put together another great game against a very physical team. It’s a fun way; that’s how you want Senior Night to go.”
A three-pointer by Jasmine Jones had Loyola Marymount (5-18, 4-14) down 16-15 less than a minute into the second quarter but those were the visitors’ only points until the 6:54 mark of the third quarter.
The Zags scored 26 straight points while the Lions were 0 for 14 from the field with nine turnovers.
Trailing 57-20 after three quarters, the Lions scored 19 points in the fourth, doubling their field goals from seven to 14. They went 7 of 14 from three-point range and 7 of 35 inside. They were outrebounded 45-20 and had 22 turnovers.
“I thought we did a really nice job in our presses; we were getting traps in the right spots,” Fortier said. “Sometimes when we get a trap, the people who are supposed to take away the next pass are a little bit too far off or they’re not in the right position. But today, in the presses, they were right where they were supposed to be.
“When you’re under distress with two people on you trapping you, you throw a pass that’s not perfect. We were there to come up with (the steals) today.”
Ariel Johnson scored 11 points for Loyola Marymount.