SAN DIEGO — Jill Townsend scored 16 points, Kayleigh Truong added 13 and the No. 16 Gonzaga women’s basketball team bounced back after its first loss in more than two months with a 69-47 victory over San Diego on Saturday.
Townsend scored three points in a 61-56 loss to Brigham Young on Thursday but had 12 points in the first quarter when the Zags raced to a 23-10 lead Saturday, showing no ill effects from having their 17-game winning streak end.
Against the third-place Toreros, who only played three games in January, including a 58-56 victory over BYU, because of coronavirus issues, Gonzaga made 10 of 17 shots in the first quarter, including three three-pointers.
Melody Kempton had 10 points for Gonzaga (19-3 overall, 14-1 West Coast Conference), which has won 10-straight in the series. Jenn Wirth had 12 rebounds.
Steph Gorman had 13 points for the Toreros (12-6, 9-4) and Myah Pace added 11. Second-leading scorer Jordyn Edwards did not play and forward Kendall Bird left the game midway through the first quarter with an injury and didn’t return. Edwards and Bird had started every game.
San Diego, which allows 58.5 points and is second in the nation with 14.1 steals a game, forced Gonzaga into 14 turnovers, seven of them steals.
The Zags, who allow 56.5 points, had 11 steals among their 18 forced turnovers. They also held the Toreros to 27.5% shooting (14 of 51). It was San Diego’s lowest-scoring game since shooting 27.1% in a conference-opening loss.