Nothing is stopping this year's Gonzaga Women's Basketball Team

It’s not too late to jump on the Zags bandwagon.

Sure, you’ve had plenty of chances to get on board already. The program has been rolling along for the better part of two decades now. That success has only increased, with the 2019 and 2021 teams earning the program’s best ever seeds in the NCAA Tournament. This season began with a bang, with two wins over AP Top 25 teams back in November. But we're not talking about the team that's regularly on national TV.

The Zags in question comprise the Gonzaga women's basketball team. At the halfway point of West Coast Conference play, the No. 17 ranked Zags are 19-2 overall and 9-0 in WCC play with nine games remaining.

With the program's pedigree, there were expectations around this season’s team even before things tipped off last fall. The Zags returned senior leaders in the backcourt in the form of the Truong twins, Kayleigh and Kaylynne. There was experience in the frontcourt as well, led by juniors Yvonne Ejim and Eliza Hollingsworth. It was a roster loaded with talent, experience and sparks coming off the bench.

Gonzaga wasted no time proving it belonged among the country's elite. In an early-season tournament in the Bahamas, the Zags knocked off then No. 6 ranked Louisville (a Final Four participant a season ago), and two days later, they upended the storied Tennessee Lady Vols for their second ranked win of the season.

Their only blemishes to date have come on the road against quality opponents, dropping the Bahamas tournament final versus Marquette and then losing at No. 2 ranked Stanford (another Final Four participant from last season).

A season this successful isn’t too surprising relative to expectations, but it is considering some of the circumstances.

Kayleigh Truong has been sidelined with a foot injury since the Tennessee game back in November. The First Team all-WCC performer had been a key cog for head coach Lisa Fortier since she arrived on campus four years ago.

Forward Maud Huijbens played in six games before suffering a concussion. The Netherlands National Team player has not returned to game action since.

That’s not to mention sophomore Bree Salenbien, the program’s first five star recruit. Salenbien was expected to miss a good chunk of this season after tearing her ACL late last season.

Despite the injuries, Fortier’s squad is cruising along and playing some of the most exciting offensive basketball in the country.

The team ranks first in the nation in three point shooting, having connected on 41.2 percent of their shots from deep — more than three percentage points above their counterparts on GU's men’s team. Senior guard Brianna Maxwell, a transfer from Utah, is leading the entire country behind the arc, shooting a staggering 51.8 percent. But the squads' gap from deep is nothing compared to the disparity at the free throw line. While the men have shot a troublesome 69 percent from the line, the women are crushing it — they also lead the country in that statistic, shooting 80.7 percent.

Perhaps unsurprisingly with shooting like that, the women are not only winning all their games in WCC play, they’re dominating. The Zag women have outscored conference opponents by nearly 16 points per game this season.

Ejim, a member of the Canadian National Team program, leads the team in scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounds (8.3 rpg), providing an interior counterbalance to the team’s sharpshooting from deep.

Three other Zags are averaging double figures in scoring as well. To help make up for the absence of her sister, Kaylynne Truong (15.7 ppg) is playing the most productive basketball of her career.  Maxwell (14.4 ppg), a two-time all-Pac-12 honorable mention honoree, stepped into the starting lineup after the Truong injury. Hollingsworth (10.3 ppg), who missed a few games with injury herself, has grown from role player into a reliable starter in her junior season.

ESPN’s Charlie Creme has the Zags as a six seed in his most recent NCAA Tournament bracket projection. With the way the Zags have been blowing out their WCC opposition, that projection looks more like their floor than their ceiling.

Fans have more to look forward to than just basketball, though. A legend is set to return to Spokane next month.

Courtney Vandersloot played for Gonzaga from 2007 to 2011 and helped lay the foundation for the program’s sustained success. As a Zag, Vandersloot named WCC Player of the Year as a sophomore, junior and senior. Accolades for the All-American have only kept coming since she’s gone pro. Now a four-time WNBA All-Star and 2021 WNBA champion (led by her clutch plays down the stretch in the decisive game), Sloot’s set to earn an honor no Gonzaga women’s player has ever been given — a jersey retirement.

Ahead of the game against Portland on Feb. 11, Gonzaga will put Vandersloot’s number 21 jersey in the rafters alongside men’s greats Frank Burgess, John Stockton, Adam Morrison and Kelly Olynyk.

It’s only fitting to honor the best to ever do it at Gonzaga in a season that’s going as well as any this program has ever put together.

NEXT UP

Women

Gonzaga vs. LMU • Thur, Jan. 26 at 6 pm • SWX

Gonzaga vs. Pepperdine • Sat, Jan. 28 at 2 pm • Streaming at WCCSports.com/watch

Men

Gonzaga at Portland • Sat, Jan. 28 at 4 pm • KHQ