Gonzaga women move up to 21st, Washington State gets votes in AP Top 25 poll

The Gonzaga women moved up two spots, to 21st, in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, while surprising Washington State received votes for the first time in more than two years.

The Zags also opened at 24th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool, better known as the NET rankings, which are being used for the first time this season instead of the Rating Percentage Index (RPI).

The NCAA selection committee will rely heavily on the NET rankings to select and seed prospective NCAA tournament teams.

Gonzaga was 23rd in last week’s AP rankings, but moved up after opening West Coast Conference play with wins over Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and Saint Mary’s.

The Bulldogs hosted Pacific on Monday night and face Portland in a first-place showdown Saturday in the Kennel.

The Zags moved ahead of Northwestern, which fell from the No. 15 spot after three losses, and former No. 22 Syracuse, which was idle.

Washington State is receiving votes – 3 this week – for the first time since the AP preseason poll in 2018, following the Cougars’ run to the WNIT Final Four the previous year.

The Cougars also received votes for eight straight weeks early in the 2015-16 season.

This year’s team was picked to finish last in the loaded Pac-12 Conference, but is off to a 6-1 start following a road sweep last week at Colorado and Utah.

The Cougars host Arizona State on Friday and Arizona on Monday.

Stanford led the AP poll, while Oregon dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time in 64 weeks after a home loss to UCLA.