Oregon State women picked to win WCC with Gonzaga second

LAS VEGAS – For the first time in five years, the Gonzaga women’s basketball team was not the West Coast Conference preseason pick to win the regular-season championship.

In a poll of the coaches, Oregon State got the nod, collecting 9 of 12 first-place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team) and 119 points. Gonzaga received the other three first–place votes and 111 points. Washington State (94) was tabbed third followed by Portland (91), which must replace five fifth-year starters.

The poll was announced Thursday morning when WCC Media Day unfolded at Resorts World.

Fifth through 11th features all of the California schools while newcomer Seattle University was unanimously picked to finish last.

Before Thursday, BYU, which now resides in the Big 12 Conference, was the last team not named Gonzaga picked to win the WCC in the preseason poll (2022-23).

This season marks the final campaign for Gonzaga, Washington State and Oregon State in the WCC. They move on to the rebuilt Pac-12 next year.

Change is the appropriate word to describe WCC teams top to bottom. Whatever teams lost to graduation or even transfer, they looked to the portal to restock their rosters.

“The preseason (poll) now has less weight than ever before with the changing of rosters,” said Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier, who is beginning her 12th season as head coach and 19th overall at Gonzaga.

Fortier welcomes back one starter while integrating four transfers and three freshmen.

WCC coaches expect Gonzaga to be in the mix of crowning the champion.

Eight of Fortier’s 11 teams have won the WCC regular-season title including the last three. What has eluded Gonzaga the last three years is the WCC tournament title.

Two years ago during Gonzaga’s best season under Fortier, the Zags used a difficult nonconference schedule to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. They turned that into a Sweet 16 appearance.

Last year, the Zags earned an invitation to the WBIT, finishing 24-11. They beat UTSA and Colorado before falling to Minnesota in overtime in the quarterfinals.

Oregon State returned three starters before senior guard Catarina Ferreira was lost for the season to a knee injury at the end of the first week of practice. Beavers coach Scott Rueck has a solid guard tandem in senior Tiara Bolden and junior Kennedie Shuler to go with several new players including Washington State transfer Jenna Villa.

Shuler had a late steal and basket that stopped Gonzaga in the WCC tournament semifinals last year. The Beavers, who lost eight players to transfer, knocked off Portland in the championship game to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

A junior guard, Villa’s minutes will increase with the loss of Ferreira, Rueck said.

Rueck said his team has much work to do to win the conference title. He knows Gonzaga will be in the hunt.

“Lisa (Fortier) is a great coach and their staff is great and (point guard) Allie Turner is the real deal,” Rueck said. “They will be a tough out for everyone every night.”

Gonzaga sophomore point guard Allie Turner had no problem with Oregon State being picked to win the WCC.

“They won the conference (tournament), so that was almost expected,” said Turner, the WCC Freshman of the Year last season who attended Media Day with senior guard Ines Bettencourt. “They’re a great team. We’re definitely not letting up, though. I think it should be a really competitive league. We were saying earlier, so many people have left the conference and so many teams are new this year.”

Teams picked in the middle of the WCC are a mystery. Santa Clara was picked fifth (84) followed by San Francisco (70), Saint Mary’s (55), Pacific (52), Loyola Marymount (38), Pepperdine (36), San Diego (31) and Seattle (11).

Like Gonzaga, WSU will field largely a new roster. The Cougars lost six players to the transfer portal last spring, two of whom were starters. The lone senior, Tara Wallack, also was a starter.

WSU brings back starters Eleonora Villa and Alex Covill.

“I love the response of our players that chose to come back,” WSU coach Kamie Ethridge said. “The hunger behind us is really impressive in our gym. The most competitive team I’ve had in forever.”

WCC teams return to Las Vegas in March for the conference tournament. That is more than four months away. To some it seems as far away as conference openers. They have 13 nonconference games before facing each other starting in late December.