Spokane,WA—The UC Riverside Women's Basketball team ended the 2015-16 season with a, 88-54, loss to Gonzaga in the first round of the WNIT postseason tournament.

Gonzaga (19-13, 10-8) had 12 players log minutes and no Bulldog saw more than 28 minutes of game action, as they had four players score in double figures in Thursday night's win.

In the first half, the Zags took advantage of UCR's uncharacteristic eight turnovers compared to just three assists. The Highlanders came in the match-up inside the top-10 in the nation in assist to turnover ratio. The home team converted the Highlander miscues into 14 points, and outrebounded them 22-13, while getting 19 points from their bench in forming a, 41-30, halftime cushion.

At the break, Réjane Vérin led UC Riverside with 10 points, followed by Brittany Crain's eight and Simone DeCoud's seven. Jill Barta had 11 points, six rebounds in 14 minutes of play and reserve Lauren Stockton scored 10 first half points in just 11 minutes.

To begin the second half, Gonzaga scored the first four points of the third period, before the Highlanders scored a bucket to cut the deficit to 13. The hosts would later push the lead to 18 points with :49 seconds to play in the quarter, when they got back-to-back threes from Zhane Templeton and Emma Stach for the last scores of period to enter the fourth with a, 65-41 advantage.

The Zags controlled the pace in fourth, only leaving the final score in question as they subbed in two, sometimes three players at a time to take advantage of the seven player rotation for the Highlanders. Gonzaga led by as much as 35 points in the fourth, which would have matched the worst defeat of the season for UCR, suffered in Seattle against the Washington Huskies in December 2015, but the game finished 88-54. The Bulldogs will play on into the second round of the WNIT against the winner of Friday night's game between Montana State and Utah.

For the game, the UCR bench was outscored 47-2, and Gonzaga nearly doubled up the Highlanders on points in the paint (34-18) as well as on the boards (44-23), while forcing the Highlanders into 15 turnovers and holding them to a season low eight assists.

Barta had a 20-point 10-rebound double double, and was joined in double figures by Templeton with 16, Chelsea Waters 11 and Stockton 10. Verin led the Highlanders with 17 points, DeCoud finished with 11. Brittany Crain concluded her career with 13 points, and the second best single season scoring performance in school history—719 points.

The Highlanders finished the season with a Big West era record 23 wins against nine losses.