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Townsend lifts No. 16 Gonzaga women past San Diego 69-47

Syndication: Stockton Record

Pacific’s Lianna Tillman, right, shoots over Gonzaga’s Kayleigh Truong during a West Coast Conference women’s basketball game at Pacific’s Spanos Center in Stockton. Gonzaga won 77-65. Uop Gonzaga 170a

Clifford Oto/The Stockton Record

SAN DIEGO -- Jill Townsend scored 16 points, Kayleigh Truong added 13 and No. 16 Gonzaga bounced back after its first loss in more than two months with a 69-47 win over San Diego on Saturday.

Townsend scored just three points in a 61-56 loss to BYU on Thursday but had 12 points in the first quarter when the Bulldogs raced to a 23-10 lead, showing no ill effects from having their 17-game winning streak end.

Against the third-place Toreros, who only played three games in January, including a 58-56 win over BYU because of coronavirus issues, Gonzaga hit 10 of 17 shots shots in the first quarter, including three 3s. San Diego only had a brief 47 seconds in the third quarter trailing by less than double digits.

Melody Kempton had 10 points for Gonzaga (19-3, 14-1 West Coast Conference), which has won 10-straight in the series. Jenn Wirth had 12 rebounds.

Steph Gorman had 13 points for the Toreros (12-6, 9-4) and Myah Pace added 11. Second-leading scorer Jordyn Edwards did not play and forward Kendall Bird left the game midway through the first quarter with an injury and didn’t return. Edwards and Bird had started every game.

San Diego, which allows 58.5 points and is second in the nation with 14.1 steals a game, only forced Gonzaga into 14 turnovers, seven of them steals.

The Bulldogs, who allow 56.5 points, had 11 steals among their 18 forced turnovers. They also held the Toreros to 27.5% shooting (14 of 51). It was their lowest scoring game since shooting 27.1% in a conference opening loss.

Gonzaga closes out the regular season with two home games, beginning Thursday against Pepperdine. San Diego is home against Pepperdine on Monday.