Ejim has 19 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists as No. 17 Gonzaga women beat Santa Clara 82-45
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Yvonne Ejim made 9 of 16 from the field and finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to help No. 17 Gonzaga beat Santa Clara 82-45 Thursday night and extend its win streak to 13 games.
Gonzaga (19-2, 6-0 West Coast Conference), which beat the Broncos 87-49 at home two weeks ago, shot 54% from the field and outrebounded the Broncos 43-22.
Tess Heal led Santa Clara (15-6, 3-3) with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting. The rest of the Broncos combined to make 8 of 34 (23.4%) from the field.
Santa Clara’s Olivia Pollerd opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, but Kaylynne Truong answered with a three-point play and Brynna Maxwell hit a jumper that made it 5-3 with 8:07 left in the first quarter and Gonzaga led the rest of the way. Ejim scored six points in an 11-0 run to open the second that made it 33-14.
The Bulldogs’ only losses this season have come away from home and against ranked opponents: 77-72 in overtime at then-No. 24 Washington State on Nov. 9 and 81-70 to then-No. 20 Louisville at the Betty Chancellor Classic in Katy, Texas, on Nov. 26.
Maud Huijbens scored nine of her career-high 15 points in the second half for Gonzaga and Truong finished with 14.
Gonzaga plays the second of three consecutive road games Saturday at San Francisco. Santa Clara kicks off a three-game road trip at Saint Mary’s (CA) on Saturday.
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