With two older brothers and several older cousins, Gonzaga women’s basketball’s Jill Townsend was the runt of the family. Sure, she was knocked to the ground all the time and got a couple elbows to the face, but it made her tough.
Growing up on a ranch in the small northeastern Washington town of Okanogan with her extended family shaped the sophomore guard.
“We would set up floodlights on our patio,” Townsend said. “My dad made a homemade hoop, not even the right height, like it was over [10] feet … and we’d literally play basketball all night and I’d be the smallest one out there.