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Gonzaga Women's Basketball

Gonzaga women move up to 15th in AP poll as regular season ends

Gonzaga women's basketball players Payton Muma, left, and Brynna Maxwell enter Saturday's Gonzaga men's game with their West Coast Conference champion signs. (Courtesy of Gonzaga Athletics)
By Jim Allen For The Spokesman-Review

Gonzaga’s late-season rush toward the West Coast Conference title also made an impression with voters in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.

A road sweep of San Diego and Brigham Young helped the Zags (27-3) move up three spots, to 15th, in the poll released Monday.

The Zags were helped by upsets elsewhere, as Michigan, Arizona and Oklahoma and UCLA took big drops. On the other hand, only four schools in Division 1 have fewer losses than Gonzaga, which has a week off to prepare for the WCC tournament.

Gonzaga’s 17-1 conference record was good enough for undisputed first place and seeds the Zags into a WCC semifinal game noon Monday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Their opponent will be determined in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Until then, the Zags will practice at home before flying to Vegas on Saturday. During that time, the WCC will announce awards, including Coach of the Year and Player of the Year.

Despite its record, GU continues to fare poorly in the NCAA’s NET rankings, which are a major component in seeding decisions for March Madness.

As of Monday, the Zags ranked 43rd, which puts them behind six Power 5 schools who have losing records in their conference. Gonzaga is also nine spots behind Ivy League leader Columbia, which is 22-4 overall.

A No. 43 ranking roughly translates to an 11 seed, but last year’s GU squad had a similar NET ranking and earned a 9 seed.

The Zags can improve their résumé by winning the WCC tournament.

Meanwhile, ESPN bracketologist Charlie Crème knocked the Zags to an 8 seed while holding to his previous prediction of a first-round trip to Salt Lake City.

Justwomensports.com has GU as a 7 seed and CollegeSportsMadness.com is predicting a 7 seed.

Gonzaga finished the regular-season as the top 3-point shooting team in the nation. Gonzaga made 242 out of 578 shots, or 41.9%, well ahead of second-place Iona (41.1%).

Brynna Maxwell is still the individual leader despite going 0 for 4 in the regular-season finale at BYU. Maxwell is shooting an even 50%, or 82 for 164. Second-place Tess Amundsen of CSUN is at 49.5%.

Gonzaga’s Kaylynne Truong ranks 16th at 42.3%.

Maxwell also is the NCAA leader in free-throw percentage at 94.7% (72 for 76).