Sister act helps Zags reach Sweet 16
Truongs have earned confidence of Gonzaga coach
There is a reason Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier has put so much trust in the sister duo of Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong.
“Well, I mean, I basically raised them as my own. They’ve been here for so long,” Fortier quipped.
Jokes aside, a big part of why the fourth-seeded Bulldogs find themselves in the women’s Sweet 16 for the first time in nearly a decade is because of what the twin sisters have brought to the program during their five years at Gonzaga.
The next challenge is the biggest the Zags (32-3) have faced to date — top-seeded Texas (32-4) in the Portland 4 Regional semifinal on Friday night.
“It started from the jump, right before pre-season even started,” Kayleigh Truong said. “Like coach Lisa said, we all came together as a team and we set a standard … This was one of our goals.”
The Truongs arrived in Spokane in 2019. They could have ended their college careers last year, but a foot injury suffered by Kayleigh robbed the pair of a chance to start together as seniors. Prior to that, Kayleigh had started with Kaylynne the first off the bench for the Zags.
With her sister out, Kaylynne became the West Coast Conference player of the year and an honourable mention all-American during the 2022-23 season. Because of the missed opportunity to start together, and with several other key players choosing to return — including Eliza Hollingsworth and Brynna Maxwell — the pair decided to take advantage of the opportunity and get one more year together in college.
“Those guys coming back for their fifth year, they could have all been playing pro, playing at (whatever) school in the world,” Fortier said. “So the four of those super seniors, and throw (Canadian Yvonne Ejim) into that, they came back with passion and something they didn’t have necessarily before.”
Getting a chance to start together for the first time since high school has been rewarding, both for the sisters and the Zags. Kayleigh has averaged 12.3 points per game; Kaylynne is at 11.6. Kaylynne has 204 assists; Kayleigh has 152. Kayleigh is shooting 44.6 per cent on threepointers; Kaylynne is at 42.9 per cent.
They combined for seven threepointers and 35 points in Gonzaga’s second-round win over Uta.
For Fortier, having the duo on the court gives her a level of comfort where she doesn’t have to do that much coaching with all the experience they have.
“We always say there is a lot of freedom with understanding in our program,” Fortier said. “Those guys, as fifth years who have logged plenty of minutes and been in lots of big games and big moments, I’m confident they know what to do and they’re going to do it well and step up at the right moments.”
Four to go
South Carolina, which plays No. 4 seed Indiana in Albany on Friday, is four wins from becoming the 10th team in NCAA women's basketball history to put up a perfect season. South Carolina would join UConn (which has done it six times), Tennessee (1997-98), Baylor (2011-12) and Texas (1985-86). The Gamecocks (34-0) are 105-3 over the last three seasons and 21-1 against ranked opponents over that time … Gonzaga has reached the Sweet 16 five times but has never gone any further in the tournament … Five Pac-12 teams have advanced to the Sweet 16, the most of any conference. That won’t happen again, with all but two schools changing conferences.