Next: At home with Bulldogs and Wolves

Updated December 14: There will NOT be a post game Q & A in Kissick due to Tara needing to go to the Media Press conference which will take a good deal of time on this special day!

Finals Week is almost over! The Cardinal returns to Maples this weekend to host Bulldogs and Wolves:

• The Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday afteroon at 1:00.
• The New Mexico Lobos on Monday evening at 7:00.

Both games will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks and broadcast by KZSU. Click here at game time for Live Stats.

There will be lots going on at Maples on Saturday besides the Gonzaga game:

• The usual chalk talk in Kissick 45 minutes before the game.
• A chance to talk to Nicole, now the assistant coach at Gonzaga, sometime during the afternoon.
• The postgame ceremony that will honor Tara's epic 900th career win with a video tribute and a gift presentation from Director of Athletics Bernard Muir.
• A postgame autograph session with Bonnie, Taylor and Lili.
• The second game of the double-header (MBB vs UC Davis), which begins at 5:00. You can buy discounted tickets for either game:
  • Click here with Promo Code DOUBLEUP for the WBB game.
  • Click here with Promo Code ANDONE for the MBB game.
  • Get reserved seat for the MBB game at the box office for $10 and a WBB ticket stub.

Amber lays it up between Sunny Greinacher and Jazmine Redmon at Gonzaga last season

  Gonzaga Bulldogs

The Zags have made a good start to what promises to be another successful season. They're ranked 23/22 in the national polls, their RPI is 25 and their record is 8-1, with the single loss by just four points to then-#11 Oklahoma in the preseason WNIT.

The Zags' non-conference competition hasn't been terribly challenging — their strength-of-schedule is ranked at 143 by Collegiate Basketball News. But they come to Maples off two very good wins on the road to strong major teams — Ohio State (rpi 10) and the University of Wisconsin (Bobbie Kelsey's team, RPI 33).

Graham Hays (espnW) ranks the Zags as #1 in the mid-majors with this evaluation:

There aren’t many firsts left for Gonzaga. And while this isn’t making a first Final Four, wins at Ohio State and Wisconsin in recent days did represent the first time the program won multiple road games (not including neutral-site games) in the same season against teams from the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. Tuesday’s win against the Badgers was far from perfect, but it showed what the program is these days. It was Gonzaga that came in ranked and had both the size inside (four points, four rebounds and two blocks in 16 valuable minutes for Shelby Cheslek) and the depth on the bench (10 points in 11 minutes from Danielle Walter) to grind out a win. Now comes the biggest test, as the Bulldogs (and assistant coach Nicole Powell) head to Stanford on Saturday.

Last season, the Zags earned their fifth-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, won their ninth-straight West Coast Conference regular season title and fourth WCC Tournament Championship in five years. They returned four starters from that squad (all but guard Taelor Karr) and are joined on the court by Lindsay Sherbert, who transferred from Cal and sat out last season.

The Zag's primary strength is in the backcourt and at the perimeter. They have very good shooters, and their perimeter defense is the fifth-best in the nation (their opponents have made just 22% of their 3-pt attempts).

The Zags mainly play three or four guards. Their starters are:

• #3, 5'8" redshirt senior guard Haiden Palmer has been a standout player for the Zags since transferring from Oregon State in her sophomore year. She leads the team in scoring (16.0 ppg) and steals (2.6 spg) and is the second-best rebounder (6.3 rpg). She takes more shots than anyone else on the team (about 14 per game) and makes 48.4% of them. She takes 24% of her shots from beyond the arc and makes 35.5% of those.


• #34, 5'9" senior guard Jazmine Redmon runs the point for the Zags and is an excellent ball-handler. She's dished out 45 assists with just nine turnovers so far this season — her assist-turnover ratio (5.0) is the second-best in the nation. She also contributes an average of 5.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.


• #24, 5'10" junior guard Keani Albanez is the Zags' most productive 3-point shooter. She takes 74% of her shots from beyond the arc and makes 44% of them. She averages 9.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.


• #33, 6'0" redshirt junior guard Lindsey Sherbert is running a close second to Albanez as a threat at the perimeter in her first season of action with the Zags. She takes about half her shots from beyond the arc and makes a third of them. But she also scores inside for a total of 12.1 ppg and gets 5.1 rpg.


• #14, 6'4" junior forward Sunny Greinacher is the Zag's big threat inside. She leads the team in rebounding (6.7 rpg), is the second-best shot blocker (1.2 bpg) and the third-best scorer (11.1 ppg).

The Zags have a very deep bench, with six players who average more than nine minutes per game. Combined, they contribute an average of 21 points and 15 rebounds per game.

Of particular note is 6'5" sophomore center Shelby Cheslek, who provides height and strength in the frontcourt for about 14 minutes per game. She averages 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 2.6 points per game.

Here are Gonzaga's statistics and roster.

  New Mexico Lobos

Stanford and New Mexico have played each other just a couple of times — five years ago in Maples and six years ago at The Pit in Albuquerque.

Dave & I and a few other Cardinal fans went to that game in The Pit, and I remember it well — primarily for the Lobo's awesome fan support. The Pit (a below ground level arena) was filled with almost 9,000 incredibly supportive fans. They greeted every Lobo point with thunderous cheers. They all boo-ed every foul called against the Lobos, not just the questionable ones. And when they weren't cheering or booing, they howled.

The Lobos were in the top tier of the Mountain West Conference (MWC) for many seasons under 17-year head coach Don Flanagan. He retired in 2011 and Yvonne Sanchez, his assistant for eleven years, took over. In her first season as head coach, the Lobos were hit hard by a multitude of injuries and dropped to #7 in the MWC with an 11-20 record, but kept playing hard and advanced to the MWC title game.

The Lobos improved last season to 17-14 and #5 in the MWC.

In Coach Sanchez' third year, they're determined to keep improving and advancing, although their go-to scorer (Caroline Durbin) graduated last year, and sophomore center Whitney Johnson, who was looking at a breakout year, is out for the season with an Achilles tendon injury. Promising freshman forward Lauren Newman is also out for the season after hip surgery.

So the Lobos have begun the season poorly with a 4-4 record and an RPI of 268. They won't be the best team to visit Maples this season, but they may be the one with the greatest determination to do well.

Their devoted fans have stuck with them through all this. The average attendance at The Pit was about 6500 last season (#9 in the nation), and is 5700 so far this season.

The Lobo starters are:

• #15, 5'10" redshirt junior guard Antiesha Brown was Mountain West Player of the Year last season. She's an aggressive slasher who can also hit the three. She leads the Lobos in scoring (16.3 ppg) and in steals (1.8 spg). She takes the most shots (about 14 per game) and makes 48% of them. She also makes the most 3-ptrs (1.5 per game)


• #11, 5'11' redshirt senior guard Sara Halasz sat out two seasons (2010-2012) with knee injuries, but came back strong last season and is a mature leader this season. She makes the second-most points (10) and rebounds (5.5) per game.


• #13, 6'0" sophomore forward Khadijah Shumpert is a stong presence in the post for the Lobos. She averages 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.


• #44, 6'0" redshirt junior forward Deeva Vaughn is a threat in the post and on the perimeter. She averages 6.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.


• #12, 5'4" sophomore guard Bryce Owens runs the point for the Lobos. She led the Mountain West freshmen last season in assists, steals and minutes played and was No. 3 in scoring. She has the potential to be one of the league's top scorers this season. Her current stats are 5.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, and 1.7 assist/turnover ratio.

The Lobos have a strong bench that accounts for 38% of the playing time, 26% of the points and 37% of the rebounds. Among them are junior center Ebony Walker, the Lobos' best rebounder (5.7 rpg) and third-best scorer (10.3 ppg) and freshman forward Keanna Keller, who blocks the most shots (1.8 bpg).

Here are New Mexico's statistics and roster.