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Young Zags expect to return

Posted by Dave Trimmer at 9:18 PM on Mar 17    Comments (0)
Filed under: Zags

STANFORD, Calif. – In their first appearance in the NCAA tournament the Gonzaga Bulldogs played like it was their first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
They were tentative in an 85-46 loss to Middle Tennessee State and shellshocked afterwards.
About the only good thing to come out of the game was the way the younger Bulldogs talked about what the experience they gained for their next appearance.
“Where do I start?” freshman Heather Bowman said. “I learned you have to come out intense from the beginning. They’re definitely very good (but) we’ve played teams like this before. Next time we’ll remember this game, prepare better and come out more intense.”
Sophomore Sasha Polischuck added, “It was so amazing, I realize experience does matter. When we come back next year, we’re going to know what it takes, we going to know details really do matter. … We learned you can’t play scared, you have to be confident. When you’re scared they can see it in your eyes.”
At halftime, when the 17th-ranked and fifth-seeded Blue Raiders were leading 44-20, Gonzaga had more turnovers, 21, that shots attempted, 17. By the end of the game the Zags had 37 turnovers and 39 shots.
“They are a great basketball team that we made look a lot better,” GU coach Kelly Graves said.
He, too, expects this game is the first of many.
“This has been coming,” he said. “We’ve been building it. We’ve put ourselves in a position now to dictate our success year-in and year-out. People forget that experience matters. This is our first time here and we played like it.
“Our recruiting has certainly been excellent. … I anticipate that this isn’t going to be the last people see of Gonzaga. I’m proud of us, this is just a stepping stone.”

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