Seldom has a stat been so misleading as the five points scored by Gonzaga’s bench players Monday night.

Because they did so much else when it mattered most.

In a tight game at the Kennel against a gritty San Diego squad, the backups responded in kind, doing the dirty work of winning loose balls and snagging big rebounds.

The payoff was a 70-59 West Coast Conference win that was far closer than the final score; in fact, it wasn’t secured until McKayla Williams’ two foul shots gave the Zags an eight-point advantage with 33 seconds left.

“It’s always like that against San Diego,” said GU coach Lisa Fortier. “They’ve got great athletes and their motto is clearly to be physical.”

On three occasions, doubled-digit leads were erased by a San Diego squad that played well above its 6-6 record.

But Gonzaga is 11-2 despite a poor shooting night from almost everywhere: 30% from outside the arc, 41% inside and 70% from the line for a team that came into the game ranked second in Division 1 in foul-shooting accuracy.

The big numbers were put up by the players you’d expect, but with some caveats.

Kaylynne Truong had a game-high 20 points, though she needed 18 shots to get them. Yvonne Ejim had 13 points and a game-high nine boards but sat with foul trouble during a serious San Diego rally in the third quarter.

And Brynna Maxwell, the fifth-best long-range shooter in the country, was just 2-for-8 from 3.

That left plenty of slack, and the reserves duly picked it up.

“I think that since people have gone down, we’re just trying to stay consistent,” said guard Esther Little, who didn’t score but hauled in six rebounds and in one crucial sequence swatted down a shot on the perimeter and later snagged a loose ball to help blunt another San Diego rally.

Together, the backups accounted for 14 boards, helping the Zags win that battle by 10 against a team that was plus-7 coming into the game.

Gonzaga appeared to have all the momentum with 5:51 left in the half, when Eliza Hollingsworth hit a long 3 as the shot clock expired.

That made it 30-16, and GU restored the 14-point lead on a layin by Ejim two minutes later. However, USD held the Zags scoreless the rest of the way and trailed only 32-26 at intermission.

The GU advantage was back up to nine on a 3-pointer from Maxwell, but San Diego rallied and even took a 38-37 lead with 4 minutes, 20 seconds left in the third.

During that stretch, Hollingsworth and Maxwell each drove for contested layins only to come up empty – no buckets and no fouls called.

By that time, the crowd of about 3,000 was weighing in on the noncalls, and Fortier didn’t exactly blame them.

“There were some things that could have gone our way,” said Fortier, who added that the Zags “were right on the bubble, right on the verge of losing our composure.”

Instead, the Zags regained the lead on a pullup jumper from Truong. Maxwell followed with three foul shots after being fouled, and Truong added two more free throws to help GU take a 42-38 lead into the fourth quarter.

The momentum carried into the fourth, as reserve Calli Stokes added a crucial layin to her six rebounds, and Williams hit a pretty floater.

Meanwhile the crowd didn’t let up.

“I like games like this, the physicality and the crowd getting into it,” Ejim said.

A few minutes later, it was Williams on the fast break to help GU match its biggest lead, 59-45 with 5:16 left. That was just enough to withstand a last-gasp USD rally that got the Toreros within six with 2½ minutes left.

Along with nine points, Williams had two assists and four boards despite being dealing with illness.