Gonzaga women move up two spots to 23rd in AP poll

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team moved up two spots, to 23rd, in this week’s Associated Press poll after winning its third straight game.

The Zags, 25th last week, beat Eastern Michigan 77-68 on Sunday in the first game of the Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas.

Gonzaga (4-2) received 82 points overall. Ahead of the Zags is Syracuse, which has 107. GU is just ahead of Missouri State, which has 76 points.

South Florida moved up from 23rd after beating Memphis, while MSU dropped four spots after falling to South Dakota State.

Gonzaga also moved past Oregon State, which was 21st last week but lost at unranked Washington State last weekend.

SDSU, which beat the Zags in overtime two weeks ago, sits just outside the poll. South Carolina, which outlasted GU in the season opener, remains at fifth after starting the season at No. 1.

Gonzaga sits at 37th in the Rating Percentage Index, a key component used by the NCAA for tournament seeding.

However, because so many games have been canceled by COVID-19, the RPI still lacks enough data. Case in point: Stanford is currently No. 1 in the AP poll but only 23rd in RPI, while Big Sky Conference member Portland State is fourth.

GU is the only West Coast Conference team ranked in AP. In the RPI poll, BYU is 69th, Pacific 135th and Portland 152nd.

As the conference, the WCC ranks 14th in RPI and 19th in schedule strength.