Going gets tough for Gonzaga

West Coast Conference games start this week and the Gonzaga Bulldogs have their work cut out for them.

A year ago the Bulldogs (9-6) went 8-8 in the preseason, romped through the WCC with a 13-1 record and coasted through three games in the WCC tournament en route to their first NCAA appearance.

Suddenly, the conference that was so weak that a 28-3 Gonzaga team couldn’t get invited to the NCAA tournament four seasons ago is looking pretty dangerous.

The eight WCC teams are 69-48, including 54-24 against the five other western conferences. That counts an 8-6 record against the Pac-10.

Only Pepperdine, with a top-50 strength of schedule, has a losing record. The four teams picked for the bottom half of the league – Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Portland – have 38 wins and, by one RPI count, have moved up an average of 70 spots from a year ago.

When last season ended there were 313 spots between the first and last teams. That has shrunk to 120 between Gonzaga’s 83 and Portland’s 203.

“Much improved,” Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves said. “No question about that. It’s a combination of getting better players and scheduling. Some teams have scheduled up and that in turns improves recruiting.”

The Bulldogs get tested early. Pepperdine (5-8) and Loyola Marymount (8-7), picked third and fourth, are at McCarthey Athletic Center this week. The game against the Waves on Thursday is on ESPNU at 8 p.m.

Gonzaga went 2-3 without sophomore post Heather Bowman, the WCC’s leading scorer (20.6, tied for 11th nationally) and rebounder (9.4). Bowman suffered a broken finger but returned last week in a 67-43 romp over Saint Joseph’s, which had previously beaten No. 15 Auburn.

“The last several games without Heather, it was tough to gauge how we were going to be,” Graves said. “When she came back against Saint Joseph’s, it showed what we can do and how much difference she makes.”

•Pepperdine just finished a 0-4, 10-day road trip, but the last three losses were against ranked teams George Washington, Rutgers and Colorado, all by 14 points or less. … Santa Clara posted the best non-conference record (11-3) despite being picked to finish seventh.

On tap

Idaho (1-12, 0-1) is at Louisiana Tech (5-8, 0-1) tonight and has its Western Athletic Conference home opener Saturday against Fresno State (7-8, 2-0).

Washington State (3-11, 0-3) faces USC (9-6, 2-2) on Thursday and UCLA (7-8, 2-2) on Saturday at Friel Court.

Idaho State (9-4, 1-0) is at Eastern Washington (3-12, 0-2) Thursday and Weber State (5-8, 0-1), with sophomore point guard Tonya Schnibbe (U-Hi), visits Saturday afternoon.

Diminishing returns

Arizona had just six players in uniform for various reasons for last Thursday’s game at Oregon State and still managed to hold a 16-point lead in the second half. The Wildcats squandered that as foul trouble mounted and lost two players by the end of regulation with the scored tied at 65.

Despite having four players, UA built a six-point lead before OSU rallied to force a second OT. In the last session, the Wildcats were down to three players at the 2:29 mark and had just two for the final 1:01 en route to a 94-88 loss.

Tip-ins

EWU’s leading scorer, freshman Kyla Evans (12.4), did not play at Northern Arizona, because of a “coach’s decision.” … Freshman Kelli Valentine (Mead) scored 12 points as Portland State matched last year’s win total of 12 with just its second win in program history at Northern Arizona. … Freshman Jenna Galloway (Ferris) returned to action for Northern Arizona on Saturday after missing six games with a stress fracture. … Tennessee freshman Angie Bjorklund (University), after being name Player of the Game on a national telecast, goes into Southeastern Conference play averaging 10.7 points. She is the SEC Freshman of the Week for the third time, the third most in conference history.