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Gonzaga Women's Basketball

Gonzaga women rise to 18th in AP poll, but fall in NCAA’s NET rankings

Gonzaga guard Kaylynne Truong dribbles against Saint Mary's on Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The Bulldogs (25-3) rose to No. 18 in Monday's Associated Press Top 25, but dropped to 44th in the NCAA's NET rankings. (Courtesy Gonzaga Athletics)
By Jim Allen For The Spokesman-Review

If the Associated Press poll is any indication, the Gonzaga women have a decent shot of hosting NCAA Tournament games next month.

In the poll released Monday, the Zags moved up two more spots, to 18th, after beating West Coast Conference rivals Pacific and Saint Mary’s last week.

However, Gonzaga (25-3) took another drop in the NCAA’s NET rankings, which are considered the biggest single factor in tournament seeds and at-large qualification. Ranked 39th in NET a week ago, the Zags are 44th this week.

Other rankings are all over the board. RealTimeRPI.com has GU ranked 11th, CBS sports pencils them in for 8 seed and ESPN bracketologist Charlie Crème has them as a 7 seed and traveling to Salt Lake City for the first round.

Of course, anything can happen in the next two weeks, but the NET ratings clearly place a premium on the company you keep. Even if GU wins its final two regular-season games and the WCC Tournament, home games in the NCAAs appear a longshot.

The Zags are 25-3 overall and 15-1 in the WCC but is ranked behind several teams with losing records in major conferences. Notably, Oregon is 14-13 overall and 3-7 in the Pac-12, but is 24th in NET.

Regional rival Washington State (18-9, 8-8 Pac-12) is 42nd in NET.

Gonzaga owns wins over Tennessee (5-4 in the SEC but currently 15th in NET) and Louisville (9-5 in the ACC and 29th).

Losses to Marquette (37th in NET) and Stanford (third) won’t hurt on Selection Sunday, but the upset by Santa Clara (137th) certainly will.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga’s Brynna Maxwell and her teammates continue to top the charts in 3-point shooting.

Maxwell, the only player in Division 1 shooting above 50%, has made 80 of 158 long-range shots, or 50.63%. Almost a percentage point behind is Kate Mager of Iona at 49.69%.

As a team, the Zags are shooting 229 for 545, or 42.02%. Second-place Iona is hitting at a 41.28% clip.

Gonzaga is sixth in team free throw percentage at 79.1% and Maxwell is second in the individual rankings at 66 for 70, or 94.33%.

In the Associated Press rankings, defending NCAA champ South Carolina remains No. 1, followed by Indiana, Stanford, UConn and LSU. The next five are Iowa, Maryland, Utah, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.

Other ranked Pac-12 teams are Arizona (17th), UCLA (18th) and Top 25 newcomer Colorado (21st).