The Washington State and Idaho women's basketball teams are set to begin conference tournament play after wrapping up their regular season schedules last week. Two players from WSU were also honored on Tuesday as the Pac-12 announced its all-conference teams.

More below. 

The Big Sky Conference and Western Athletic Conference announced their all-conference picks on Monday, with four local players - two from Idaho and two from Eastern Washington - earning first-, second- or freshman-team honors.

EWU standout Brianne Ryan earned the top award for the Big Sky and was named MVP.

Read all about the awards here.

Entertaining game here at the Orleans Arena today with Gonzaga overtaking Saint Mary's in the final 10 minutes en route to an 83-78 victory in WCC women's tournament semifinals.

The Gaels led 49-47 at the break. Saint Mary's made 19 of 29 shots (65.5 percent) and Gonzaga made 19 of 33 (57.6 percent). The Gaels couldn't keep up that pace, particularly in the closing 10 minutes and Gonzaga used a couple of 7-0 spurts to claim the victory.

My unedited game story is below. Chris Anderson's photos can be found here.

The Washington State women’s basketball team came up just short on Sunday against Cal. The 60-55 loss was Cal’s sixth-straight win, and you can read The Daily Californian’s game story here. 

The Gonzaga University women's basketball team is ranked 23rd in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll after receiving 106 votes (94 more than a week ago) - the first time this season the Bulldogs have made the list.

Three of the four area Division I women's basketball teams start conference play on Thursday. That is the topic for this week's notebook, leading off with Gonzaga's quest for an eighth-straight WCC title. I also realize I neglected to link to last week's story on Eastern Washington mighty mite Chene Cooper, who leads the Big Sky in assists and is about to set the Eagle record for steals.

What a nice drive home from Pullman - hard to believe Christmas is almost here. Also hard to believe that's my last road trip for The Spokesman-Review, but that's another story. Kudos to the Washington State women's basketball team, they battled another ranked team, but they need to pull out one of these. This time it was No. 14 Louisville escaping Beasley with a 75-71 win.

Gonzaga finally got its regular-season statement game, rallying to beat No. 13 Georgia.

Haiden Palmer's 3-pointer with 3 seconds left gives Gonzaga a 71-68 win over 13th-ranked Georgia in Las Vegas. The Bulldogs (8-2) trailed by 15 in the first half, eight at halftime and by 10 late in the game. Palmer finished with 22 points, Katelan Redmon had 23 and 10 rebounds. Georgia had three players in double figures and two players that had to play all 40 minutes. No story on the wire yet, but that link is to the box score.

The Gonzaga women return to the Top 25. ESPNW also provided an in-depth look into the rise of the Bulldogs to national prominence, powered by Courtney Vandersloot.

Washington State is hosting Louisville next Monday and it's Native American Appreciation Night.

Under the radar is a good description for Alysha Green but the Mead grad has made her mark in college basketball. She's the subject for the weekly basketball notebook. For a couple of other notes, including some that ended up on the cutting room floor, read on.

USC shuts down the high-octane offense of the Gonzaga women's basketball team and pulls away down the stretch.

In other games, Idaho loses at Colorado. On Saturday Eastern Washington picks up a win in the Arizona State tournament and on Friday Gonzaga won at Riverside the Washington State clips San Diego State.

Gonzaga women's basketball coach Kelly Graves was right - twice. Washington State is much improved and Taelor Karr is the real deal.

After Ireti Amojo knocked down a clutch 3-pointer with 10 seconds left, Karr, the transfer from Kansas State, went coast to coast for the winning layup with 3 seconds left as the Bulldogs pulled out a thrilling 71-69 win in Pullman.

Across the border, Washington defeated Idaho.

That's the news from Beasley Coliseum, along with the WSU men rolling Grambling State. Time to drive home.

The women's basketball news for the day … Washington State has its home opener against Gonzaga,  which is now ranked in the coach's Top 25, tonight so we caught up with Cougar senior Rose Tarnowski for our weekly notebook. … Also on the Palouse, Washington visits Idaho. … Surprisingly, both these are doubleheaders with the men, Idaho women are early (before the men play Eastern), the WSU women are late (after the men play Grambling). … Meanwhile, Eastern Washington gets a great win at Portland after the Pilots beat two Big Sky Conference favorites, Montana & Portland State. … Also, Gonzaga senior Kayla Standish (above) is named to the preseason Naismith watch list.

Gonzaga's senior leaders, Kayla Standish and Katelan Redmon lit up Portland State but the Bulldogs had a different supporting cast in a 99-69 win over Portland State Sunday afternoon.

After a holiday weekend … Christmas lights are up, anniversary present is purchased, belt loosened … it's time to catch up with women's basketball.

The biggest news is Washington State going 2-1 in the Virginia Islands after second day loss to Michigan and a rout of Prairie View in the finale, led by a career-high from Spokane freshman Tia Presley.

Read on.

My bad. I spent the day getting ready for Thanksgiving (and to all of you have a great day) because of a hockey game tonight and totally forgot to post women's basketball news.

Our notebook lead was Nikki Nelson, who has played two seasons and missed two seasons but is now starting for New Mexico. Read on.

Washington State women's basketball team got its first ever win against a Big Ten team and they did it on the road, pulling away from Wisconsin on a historical night for April Cook. And Post Falls grad Katelyn Loper has a monster game for Hofstra.

Sorry about the late post. Computer problems in Moscow and obligations this moring. But without further ado, hats off to Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves for his 300th win as a college basketball coach and a good win for Eastern Washington.

With a commitment Wedneday morning, instead of waiting for the women's basketball post, we'll get to it early.

Tomorrow's notebook features Idaho success story Ana Overgaard. Read on for more.

The definition of a good weekend: A miserable day outside so you have time when your best friend visits town, with lots of interesting games on in the background; a good day outside so you can get a lot of things done after your friend leaves, plus a radio on to keep up with the games. Oh, yeah, no work, no computer, which means there is a lot to catch up with. For women's basketball news, read on.