WCC League Play Begins

The preseason is over; WCC Women’s Basketball gets underway tomorrow. Here’s a quick overview of the teams:
(The teams are ranked by their RPI; SOS means strength of schedule out of 345 schools).

#26 Gonzaga (10-2) their losses are to #4 Stanford and USC, but they beat #17 Georgia. SOS: 56.

#40 BYU (11-2) their only losses are to #8 Duke and at Kansas State, but they are on a 10 game winning streak that include a number of blow-outs entering WCC play. SOS: 108.

#42 St. Mary’s (9-4) they’ve beaten both UO and OSU on the road, with losses at #21 De Paul and Cal. They are on a 4 game win streak. SOS: 45.

#144 San Diego (8-2) when they win, they win big. They beat Seattle U. (a team that beat UP) 82-65. Their only two losses are to Eastern Washington (UP also lost to EWU) and Fordham. SOS: 275.

#149 UP (7-7) a potentially winning preseason was marred by a 5 game losing streak that included UW, UO, #14 Louisville, EWU, and Seattle U. They previously lost to #21 DePaul in Hawaii, but while in Honolulu they beat a very strong Cal Irvine team and host Hawaii. They start league play with a 2 game win streak after beating Boise St. and Cal State Northridge in very well played games, but the first two league games are against Gonzaga and BYU. SOS: 91.

#181 Santa Clara (7-6) they endured a 5 game losing streak after a 5 game winning streak, but have good wins over Cal State Northridge and a strong Long Beach St. SOS: 201.

#185 Pepperdine (5-6) good wins over Fresno St., New Mexico, and Cal St. Northridge, and losses at #7 Tennessee, Oregon St., and USC highlight their preseason. SOS: 177.

#286 LMU (4-9) they started the preseason with 5 game losing streak, and are just now righting the ship with wins over Cal Poly and Sacramento St. SOS: 239.

#301 USF (2-11) it’s been an ugly preseason that included a 9 game losing streak. SOS: 213.

If the pilots can cut down on turnovers and ReZina can find her scoring touch, we’ll finish 5th; if we stay injury free and get a few breaks, we can be 4th!

I know we're all pretty tired of reading about Gonzaga at the moment, but just a reminder that Kelly Graves brings his women's team to the Chiles Center tonight @ 7pm.

I guarantee the Pilots won't lose by 39! -- I hope.......

Gonzaga 80 Pilots 65

Gonzaga is good! We didn't play that badly, but once again, turnovers!!!

A good crowd tonight. Sure there were some Zag fans, but we had a lot of young kids (and old adults too) rooting for the Pilots.

Gonzaga is good, no doubt about it. The Pilots hurt themselves with some sloppy play. They looked good when they were playing heads up.

Early in the second half Rezina drove to the hoop on 3 successive possessions and got Zag players to commit a foul on each drive. That was pretty fun to watch.

It was a very large crowd and not dominated by Zag fans. The majority were rooting for the Pilots. Lots of kids which is good to see.

Gonzaga right now is probably the best WCC women's program since the mid-90s Pilots. And yes, I was there for those. I remember when Kelly Graves was on Sollars' staff.

In the first half Jasmine Wooton had some good defensive plays. Only a freshman too.

You know the officials were calling it both ways if both coaches got warned for complaining.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Gonzaga right now is probably the best WCC women's program since the mid-90s Pilots. And yes, I was there for those.

Watching all those games in the mid-90's with Geez and Mrs. G., we use to see a lot of pre-teen boys who just couldn't keep their eyes off those college girls; so, you were one of them?

As you now know, it gets better, those college girls grow up and become very pretty women. I recently had the opportunity to have a beer with Carla, Jill, and Tina -- WOW!

DoubleDipper wrote:

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:Gonzaga right now is probably the best WCC women's program since the mid-90s Pilots. And yes, I was there for those.

Watching all those games in the mid-90's with Geez and Mrs. G., we use to see a lot of pre-teen boys who just couldn't keep their eyes off those college girls; so, you were one of them?

As you now know, it gets better, those college girls grow up and become very pretty women. I recently had the opportunity to have a beer with Carla, Jill, and Tina -- WOW!

They were all pretty good. I also marveled at the skills of Amy Claboe, Laura Sale, Deana Lansing, Kristen Hepton, the Greens...

If I saw them now I'd tell them they made me into a basketball fan as much as the men's teams (I won't even start with Lemont Daniels, Kasey Flicker, Curt Ranta...)

BYU 79 Pilots 53

Fortunately, I left before the ugly 2nd half to crank up the DVR and watch the Rose Bowl. Loved those locally designed UO helmets.

It could be an interesting night at SCU. The teams are rated evenly, but SCU boasts the top 3-point shooter in the country!!

Senior Guard Alyssa Shoji is shooting 52% from behind the new (men's) three point line, and has 54 treys on the year.

DoubleDipper wrote:It could be an interesting night at SCU. The teams are rated evenly, but SCU boasts the top 3-point shooter in the country!!
Senior Guard Alyssa Shoji is shooting 52% from behind the new (men's) three point line, and has 54 treys on the year.

Pilots lose. My favorite, Cassie Brown scored a career high 20 for the Pilots, but again they played a miserable second half. Behind the Pilots by 11 at the break, SCU rallied behind the nation's top 3-point shooter, Alyssa Shoji, who shot 5/7 from behind the line and set an all-time SCU record for 3s in a career.

For those who didn't follow the women's game last night. They lost due to a half court buzzer-beater by Pepperdine. A tough way to lose... Here is video of the play:

Wow, that stinks... not a great inbounds play, though.

PilotNut wrote:Wow, that stinks... not a great inbounds play, though.

Hmm. Inbounds plays seem to be a problem with both the men's and women's programs. Losing on two miracle shots is terrible. But why just throw it to them? There was no one near the inbounds passer.

That play was just the final straw. The Pilots were ahead by 8 points with 90 seconds left. They then turned the ball over 3 or 4 times in that time frame allowing Pepperdine back into the game. They had 28 turnovers for the game. Just not a good night for the team.