Truong powers No. 22 Gonzaga women past San Diego 70-59

Updated Dec. 19, 2022 11:41 p.m. ET

Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Kaylynne Truong scored 20 points and No. 22 Gonzaga pulled away from San Diego in the fourth quarter to post a 70-59 victory on Monday night.

The Bulldogs started strong, outscoring the Toreros 22-12 in the first quarter, and closed the game with a 23-16 fourth. In between, San Diego battled back to take a brief lead in the third quarter.

Amanda Olinger drilled a 3-pointer and followed it with a layup with 5:11 left in the third quarter to get the Toreros even at 37, and Harsimran Kaur converted the second of two free throws to put them in front. But the Bulldogs got a jumper from Truong to regain the lead and Brynna Maxwell, fouled behind the arc, knocked down all three free throws. Truong added two free throws to push the lead to 44-38.

Calli Stokes hit a layup, McKayla Williams knocked down a jumper and Truong hit a 3 as Gonzaga opened the fourth quarter on a 7-1 run that pushed its lead to 10 points, 54-44.

Truong hit 6 of 18 from the field and knocked down 3 of 9 from distance to lead Gonzaga (11-2, 2-0 West Coast Conference). Yvonne Ejim and Maxwell each added 13 points, with Ejim grabbing nine boards. Eliza Hollingsworth contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs held a 46-36 advantage on the boards. They came into the game shooting a program-record 81.4% from the free-throw line — fourth in the nation — but sank 17 of 24 (70.8%) against San Diego.

Myah Pace led San Diego (6-7, 0-2) with 10 points. The Toreros' bench accounted for 25 points, led by the nine of Veronica Sheffey.

More AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25