Gonzaga women set up for redemption with No. 2 seed at WCC tournament
Nothing would have changed for the Gonzaga women’s basketball team had it won Saturday.
The Zags knew that before tipoff. Yes, they would have shared a West Coast Conference championship with Loyola Marymount had they won.
The goal of making the NCAA Tournament is still very much in front of Gonzaga – as it is for all the WCC teams. The conference confirmed tournament seeding Sunday morning.
LMU (21-8) is the No. 1 seed and Gonzaga (22-9) is No. 2. Both receive triple byes into the tournament semifinals March 9 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Gonzaga played poorly in multiple ways and still had a chance to win Saturday before falling to Portland 92-91 in overtime.
“This week we just need to get to work and see how much better we’re going to be able to get before we get down to Vegas,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said moments after the loss.
LMU deserves much praise for what it put together in a record season. The Lions were picked to finish ninth in the WCC coaches preseason poll.
Lions coach Aarika Hughes probably locked up the Coach of the Year honor. The WCC end-of-year awards will be announced Tuesday.
It’s the second conference championship for LMU, which won its first in 2003-04.
Gonzaga is a No. 2 seed for a 10th season.
Santa Clara (23-8) and Oregon State (21-10) tied for third place, but the Broncos clinched the third seed by beating the Beavers 83-70 in the only meeting between the teams.
Portland’s win over Gonzaga secured the fifth seed for the Pilots (17-13). Pepperdine (19-11), which improved its conference record by seven wins this season in its second year under coach Katie Faulkner, is seeded sixth.
San Francisco (16-13) is the seventh seed and avoided one of the two first-round games. Washington State (7-24) won its final two games last week and tied with Pacific (11-18) and Saint Mary’s (15-16) for eighth place. But Pacific gets the eighth seed and avoids a first-round game because it beat WSU in their lone matchup.
That means WSU is the ninth seed. Saint Mary’s will be 10th, San Diego (10-21) is 11th and Seattle (5-24), in its first year in the WCC, is 12th.
The tourney begins with two games Thursday. In the opener at noon, WSU takes on Seattle, then Saint Mary’s faces San Diego.
The WSU/Seattle winner advances to meet No. 8 Pacific on Friday.
Gonzaga will face the survivor of the side of the bracket that includes Santa Clara, Pepperdine, San Francisco, Saint Mary’s and San Diego.
The first 10 games of the tournament will be on ESPN+ with the championship on ESPN2.