Gonzaga women nearly sweep awards

Nine-time champion Gonzaga nearly swept the All-West Coast Conference honors, announced Tuesday in advance of the conference tournament in Las Vegas. Senior guard Taelor Karr was named player of the year, junior guard Jazmine Redmon earned defensive player of the year and Kelly Graves took home coach of the year honors for the seventh time. San Diego’s Maya Hood earned the other honor, newcomer of the year.

Karr averaged 14.1 points and shot 30 for 63 (44.7 percent) on 3-pointers during conference play. She is the fifth Bulldog, and the first since Courtney Vandersloot (2010-11), to earn the award.

Redmon (Mead High) averaged 2.1 steals and 3.4 rebounds per WCC game, often drawing the toughest defensive assignments as GU led the conference in scoring defense (53.9 ppg).

Graves, earning the top coaching award for the third time in four years, guided the Bulldogs to a 15-1 WCC mark and 25-5 overall.

Also honored for the Bulldogs were junior guard Haiden Palmer, All-WCC team; sophomore forward Sunny Greinacher, All-WCC honorable mention; and Shelby Cheslek (Pullman High School), all-freshman team.

The top-seeded Bulldogs have a bye at the WCC tournament until Saturday’s semifinals.