Gonzaga women drop to 23rd in AP poll despite winning both games last week

Despite winning both of its games last week, the Gonzaga women’s basketball team dropped one spot, to 23rd, in The Associated Press poll released Monday.

Gonzaga is 9-2 after recent wins over Queens University of Charlotte and UC Davis. However, the Zags were leapfrogged by previously unranked Kansas.

The Jayhawks, 9-0 after a 20-point win over Wichita State, debuted at No. 22.

The Zags received 100 points, well ahead of No. 24 Oklahoma at 72 points.

Gonzaga has beaten Louisville and Tennessee, both of which were ranked when the Zags beat them at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. Both teams have since fallen out of the rankings.

Gonzaga is 24th in Monday’s NCAA NET rankings, which are considered a major factor in NCAA Tournament seeding.

Gonzaga has few opportunities in the regular season for another attention-getting win. West Coast Conference action is set to begin this weekend, and San Francisco (ranked 84th) is the only WCC team in the top 100 of the NET rankings.

Senior guard Brynna Maxwell moved up the charts in two major categories: 3-point shooting percentage and free throw shooting percentage.

On Sunday against UC Davis, the senior from Gig Harbor, Washington, made 5 of 7 shots from long range to move up three spots, to sixth in Division 1 at 55.36%.

Maxwell ranks even higher in free-throw shooting – fourth, at 97.06% (33 of 34).

Above her are Erin Houpt of Mercer and Sammie Puisis of USF, both at 100% (28 for 28) and Genesis Bryant of Illinois (35 for 36).