Despite winning big, Gonzaga women drop one spot in AP poll to No. 20

Despite winning two road games last week by a combined 68 points, the Gonzaga women fell one spot in this week’s Associated Press poll.

The poll, released Monday, has the Zags at 20th after they were leapfrogged by Oklahoma following the Sooners’ 21-point win at West Virginia.

Gonzaga is 14-2 overall and 4-0 in the West Coast Conference after two wins in Southern California. On Thursday the Zags beat Pepperdine 77-63. Two days earlier they rolled to a 96-51 win at Loyola Marymount.

Those teams are ranked 197th and 282nd, respectively, in the NCAA’s NET rating system, a major determinant of postseason seeding.

Despite that blow to its strength of schedule, GU moved up four spots, to 36th, in NET. Despite their record, the Zags had steadily dropped in NET from a high of 24th in late November.

The next highest WCC team is San Francisco, ranked 97th. The Zags and Dons square off Thursday night in the Kennel.

GU is ranked higher by RealTimeRPI.com, which has the Zags at 27th.

Meanwhile, senior guard Brynna Maxwell strengthened her spot atop the 3-point shooting charts.

Maxwell shot a combined 7 for 12 last week, improving to 54.07% (47 for 87). That’s almost two percentage points ahead of second-place Genesis Bryant of Illinois (52.42%, or 35 for 67).

Maxwell also stayed atop the charts in free-throw percentage. After going 5 for 5 last week, she improved to 97.87%, or 46 out of 47. Runner-up Maya Wong of Illinois State is well behind at 97.04%.

Last week, Gonzaga ranked third in free-throw shooting at 187 out of 233, or 80.26%.

However, Gonzaga dropped four spots, to seventh, in team free-throw percentage, despite going 23 for 30 last week. The Zags now sit at 79.85%, or 210 for 263.

That’s well above the GU men, who are shooting 72.2%.