The Zags' fast guards, and the favorites' malfunctioning offense, let Gonzaga keep up with Xavier till halftime; after that, the Musketeers took control.

Both teams played the first half at Gonzaga's favored, fast pace; in the second, XU's big, skillful posts couldn't miss, so the Zags couldn't get out and run, and the West Coast team's clutch long-range shooting failed them-- GU shot under 36%.

The game was a rematch of last year's first-round game, in which the Zags won (and in which Harris could not play).

Phillips, Harris and also three-point ace Katie Rutan gave XU more than enough offense against the Zags-- who really just ran out of gas.

But it's hard to imagine what the Muskies can do against Stanford: even if Phillips and Harris had the skills to neutralize Appel, Ogwunike and Pedersen (and we're talking about two against three here), a guard-vs.-guard game might be lopsided indeed.