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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Once Kayleigh Truong, her sister Kaylynne and the rest of Gonzaga’s sharpshooters warmed up from the perimeter, there was nothing another stellar effort from Utah’s Alissa Pili could do to slow the Zags.
Gonzaga reaches the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly a decade.
Kayleigh Truong scored 21 points, Yvonne Ejim added 17 points and 13 rebounds, and fourth-seeded Gonzaga advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, beating No. 5-seeded Utah 77-66 in the second round of the NCAA on Monday night. .
The Zags used a series of three-point shots in the second and third quarters to overcome an early deficit and advance to their first regional semifinal in nine years. Gonzaga (32-3) won its 36th consecutive home game and will face top-seeded Texas in the Portland 4 regional semifinal on Friday in Portland, Oregon.
“These kids set their own goals and they want to break all these records that Gonzaga people haven’t done before and you just have to remind them to set them little by little,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “If you want to do things we haven’t done, we have to go step by step. They played hard today.”
Gonzaga received contributions from across the lineup. Truong and his twin sister Kaylynne were on the scoreboard from the perimeter as the Bulldogs hit 12 3-pointers in the first three quarters and led by as many as 21.
Kaylynne Truong added 14 points and Elisa Hollingsworth added 13. The Bulldogs finished 12 of 22 shooting from beyond the 3-point line and took a Victory lap through the packed Kennel Club student section after the victory.
“You have to give them credit for what they do. It is not easy to last the entire game encouraging people and lose your voice,” Ejim said.
Utah was hoping to return to the regional semifinals after last year, when the Utes fell 66-63 to eventual national champion LSU in the Sweet 16.
Pili led Utah (23-11) with 35 points, his fifth 30-point game of the season, in his final game for the Utes. Pili scored the first 10 points of the game for the Utes and closed out her run with a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left before having a long hug with Utah coach Lynne Roberts.
“I’m grateful to have come to Utah and changed my life,” Pili said. “I’m grateful and ready for the future.”
Roberts said the team experienced several racist incidents at the team’s first hotel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, after arriving in the area last Thursday and forcing the team to move hotels before its tournament opener on Saturday. Roberts said the incidents left the players shaken to him.
“We had several instances of some type of racial hate crimes toward our program and (it was) incredibly disturbing for all of us,” Roberts said. “In our world, in athletics and in the university environment, it is shocking. “There’s so much diversity on a college campus and that’s why you’re not exposed to that very often.”
On the court, Gonzaga trailed by as many as seven points early in the second quarter before a flurry of shots began to fall.
Gonzaga made seven of its next eight shots, including five 3-pointers from five different players as part of a 19-3 run. Dasia Young scored on a layup with six seconds left in the half to finally end Utah’s drought, but the deficit was 10 at halftime.
Gonzaga’s streak didn’t stop at halftime. The Bulldogs scored the first 11 of the second halfincluding Kaylynne Truong’s desperation 3-pointer as the shot clock expired and a Hollingsworth three-point play to push the lead to 55-34.
“I feel like we made a couple of mental mistakes there, but they just turned out the lights. They did not fail. They made us pay,” Young said.
Utah rallied to pull within 67-61 with 4:49 left after six straight points from Pili. That was the closest the Utes got. Utah missed its next five shots, Gonzaga made five of six free throws and Ejim’s rebound basket with 1:50 left gave the Bulldogs a 74-61 lead.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
The Zags lost in the second round in 2022 and 2019 and will play in the regional semifinals for the fifth time in school history. The last time it reached this round, Gonzaga lost to Tennessee in overtime in 2015 in coach Lisa Fortier’s first season.
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