SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Kaylynne Truong scored 19 points and No. 17 Gonzaga scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to pull away from Loyola Marymount 66-55 on Thursday night, the Bulldogs’ 13th straight win.
After a sluggish first half, Gonzaga led by as many as 10 in the third quarter but it wasn’t until five different players contributed points to the game-breaking run that the Bulldogs (20-2, 10-0 West Coast Conference) could claim their 31st straight win over the Lions (5-16, 2-8).
Yvonne Ejim added 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting for Gonzaga but the nation’s leading 3-point and free-throw shooting team had a tough night finding the hoop.
The Bulldogs went 10 of 17 from the foul line, well below their 80.7% season average. Brynn Maxwell, who leads the nation, went 1 of 2 from the line, ending a streak of 41 straight makes for the 98.1% shooter.
The Bulldogs were shooting 41.2% behind the arc led by Maxwell’s nation-leading 51.8% but went 4 of 6. Maxwell missed her first four before her 3 with 1:48 left made it 66-48. Maxwell has made a 3 in every game this season.
Nicole Rodriguez scored 14 points and Alexis Mark had 11 for Loyola Marymount, which scored the final seven points of the game. LMU gave up 60 first-half points to Gonzaga and lost 98-51 at home in the first meeting this season.
Gonzaga closed the first half with a 9-0 run to grab a 28-26 lead. Ejim scored the first four points and Truong hit a jumper with 1:33 to go to make it 27-26, Gonzaga’s first lead since Ejim scored the first basket of the game.
Gonzaga is home against Pepperdine on Saturday.
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