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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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College women’s hoops: A week in review

What a week for area Division I women's basketball teams. Read below for a roundup of the week's action. 

On Wednesday, before the action started, we previewed No. 18 Gonzaga's highly-touted matchup with West Coast Conference newcomer BYU - which the teams played Thursday in Provo, Utah.

It certainly seemed on paper to have all the makings for the kind of game that could be won at the buzzer. It turned out that wasn't the case, as the Cougars crushed the Bulldogs 70-40. The teams - who are now tied atop the WCC standings with Gonzaga's eighth consecutive WCC title very much on the line - meet again in Spokane on Feb. 25th in the regular-season finale.

Gonzaga did bounce back on Saturday, beating San Francisco.

The Eastern Washington women only played once this week and got the day off on Saturday. In the Eagles' Big Sky Conference contest on Thursday night, senior Brianne Ryan eclipsed the 30-point mark for the fourth time this season - tying her career high of 33 points - and the Eagles beat visiting Weber State 78-45. 

Washington State dropped both Pac-12 Conference home games to the Oregon schools - beginning with a loss to Oregon State on Thursday night. Oregon defeated the Cougars by a narrow margin on Saturday afternoon.

In a positive turn of events for the Idaho women, the Vandals' Western Athletic Conference win over New Mexico State on Thursday gave them their first three-game win streak since November of 2010, when they started the 2010-11 season 3-0. Sophomore Alyssa Charlston nailed a 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left to send the game into overtime and the Vandals went on to a 62-59 win.

The streak ended at three, however, as the Vandals lost to Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

As the regular season is winding down for all teams, we'll start discussing conference tournaments and NCAA Tournament possibilities. I'll be back with my weekly notebook on Tuesday. Until then.



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