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Gonzaga Women's Basketball

A new rivalry? WCC frontrunners Gonzaga, Oregon State face off Thursday with arrival of new Pac-12 looming

Gonzaga guard Allie Turner drives against the Oregon State Beavers during a 63-61 loss in the West Coast Conference semifinals on March 10 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
By Greg Lee The Spokesman-Review

When Oregon State and Washington State joined the West Coast Conference for two seasons as associate members, it created an opportunity for new rivalries to develop.

The one to watch that will likely carry over to the newly built Pac-12 is Oregon State and Gonzaga.

Last year, the two regular-season games were decided in overtime with each team winning by four points on the other’s homecourt.

Then OSU knocked off Gonzaga in the WCC tournament semifinals, 63-61.

In the losses, Gonzaga had big leads late only to watch the Beavers rally.

So here we are going into the fourth week of a 10-week season and the teams are tied in first. Not a surprise considering OSU and Gonzaga were picked to finish 1-2 by the coaches.

The first regular-season matchup is Thursday when Gonzaga and OSU meet in Corvallis. Both teams are 14-6, 6-1.

The teams play the return game Feb. 5 at McCarthey Athletic Center, the Zags’ first home game after three on the road.

OSU was given the nod for the league title before it was learned that returning starter Catarina Ferreira, a senior guard, was lost for the year with a season-ending injury.

The Beavers returned two other starters – senior guard Tiara Bolden and junior guard Kennedie Shuler, both solid defensive players. Shuler is a strong candidate for WCC Defensive Player of the Year. Both were named to the preseason all-conference team. And they added a starter from WSU in the transfer portal, junior wing Jenna Villa.

“I really have a ton of respect for (OSU coach) Scott (Rueck),” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “The two of us … went into the season having to totally transform our teams and both of us were able to do that. There’s mutual respect there.”

For what it’s worth, both teams lost to Colorado State and Arizona State during nonconference play. OSU took ASU to overtime before falling 55-53. ASU held off Gonzaga 68-66.

In conference, Gonzaga lost at Santa Clara and OSU fell on the road at Loyola Marymount.

“(It) should be fun for everybody but us coaches,” Fortier said.

Gonzaga sophomore guard Teryn Gardner is looking forward to her first game against OSU.

“We know that it’s going to be a tough game and that it’s a big rivalry and they have some really good players, but we do too,” Gardner said. “So we want to come in on full throttle and take it to them.”