By John Crumpacker
#WCChoops Columnist

Even though her Gonzaga women’s basketball team has a gaudy 11-1 record at the conclusion of non-conference play, and that lone defeat was to No. 1 Notre Dame, Lisa Fortier is concerned. Her brow is furrowed.

West Coast Conference league games, 18 of ‘em, begin on Saturday.

Asked about the upcoming slate of conference games, Fortier said, “Ugh … a battle. As a coach, it’s great in non-conference. We all cheer for each other. As a person who has to play against these (WCC) teams, it’s brutal. It’s going to have to be one-game-at-a-time. I think it’s going to be a dogfight until the very end.’’

Surely, the Bulldogs of Gonzaga are ready for a dogfight, yes?

“We get everybody’s best shot all the time,’’ Fortier said. “It’s a good challenge for us. Our players have to be ready for every game.’’

Of the 10 WCC women’s teams, nine made it through non-conference play with winning records; only San Francisco, at 4-7, failed to reach .500. After Gonzaga, Portland and BYU are 8-3, Pacific is 7-3, Saint Mary’s, San Diego and Santa Clara are all 7-4, Loyola Marymount is 7-5 and Pepperdine is 6-4.

Fortier’s Zags begin conference play on the road, facing LMU on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Pepperdine on Monday at noon. The Lions were without their best player, Gabby Green, for much of the season with a “foot issue’’ and finished their non-conference slate losing three in a row. In the meantime, LMU is getting by with the scoring of Jasmine Jones (12.1 ppg), the rebounding of Bree Alford (8.4) and the leadership of senior point guard Andee Velasco (4.7 assists per game).

“Gabby only played one game (the first month of the season),’’ LMU coach Charity Elliott said. “It gave other people (a chance to) step up and show what they can do. We’ve been able to still play at a high level without Gabby in the lineup. That’s encouraging.’’

When Gonzaga faces Pepperdine on New Year’s Eve day at Firestone Fieldhouse, Fortier’s team will have its hands full with senior forward Yasmine Robinson-Bacote. In a Nov. 23 game vs. up-tempo Sacramento State, the player the Waves call “Yas’’ poured in a school-record 47 points as her teammates fed her the ball in spots where she could be productive as well as prolific.

“Robinson-Bacote is killing people, single-handedly,’’ Fortier said. “In the past we’ve tried changing the (defensive) look. We’ve put our best guard on her because she plays on the perimeter. We’ve put a post player on her.’’

Asked if it will take a village to defend Robinson-Bacote, leading the WCC in scoring at 18.7 and ninth in rebounding at 7.0, Fortier said, “It will, yes.’’

Another Wave to watch is point guard Barbara Sitanggan, who is averaging 9.6 points and 4.1 assists per game while leading the conference in free throw percentage at .846.
Gonzaga does not have one dominant offensive presence, relying instead on a balanced lineup that includes Zykera Rice (11.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg), Chandler Smith (10.3 ppg) and Katie Campbell (9.3 ppg).

“Our conference is tough,’’ Rice said. “You go in and play teams that know you like the back of their hand. I feel really good about where our team is. We’ve built good relationships that show on the court. It’s been vital to our season. Everyone has their roles. We do a good job of hitting the people who are open. We don’t put pressure on one person to get it done.’’

Pacific opens WCC play on Dec. 31 by hosting Saint Mary’s at the Spanos Center. Coach Bradley Davis’ Tigers beat UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton and lost at nationally ranked Cal and took back-to-back road defeats at Central Florida and Lamar to conclude non-conference play.

“We like where we’re going,’’ Davis said. “We like the progress we’ve made. We started out 6-1 and had a couple of tough outcomes the last two games. You have to deal with hardships throughout the year.’’

Pacific leads the WCC in turnover margin at +4.0 per game and in steals per game at 10.0, which speaks to the steady play of senior point guard Ameela Li, who is averaging 14.9 points, 4.3 assists and 2.3 seals per game while shooting .806 from the free throw line and .469 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“We have a pretty well-rounded team,’’ Li said. “Scoring-wise, we’re spread out. We share the ball pretty well. We have great rebounding. We have all the components to do well in conference. It’s going to be exciting to see how we all match up against each other.’’

Valerie Higgins leads Pacific in scoring (17.1) and rebounding (7.9) while teammate Brooklyn McDavid contributes 14.2 points per game.

Assessing the looming conference schedule, Davis also used the word “dogfight’’ and said, “It seems everyone is doing pretty well; only one team has a record under .500. Gonzaga is off to a great start, with an upset over Stanford. BYU seems like they’re playing well; they beat a couple of solid teams. Saint Mary’s has been off to a good start. LMU had a couple of solid wins vs. Pac-12 teams early. Every team seems to be playing good basketball. We’d all prefer to be 11-0 going into conference play and let’s duke it out.’’

Portland looks well equipped to duke it out at 8-3 and leading the WCC in scoring at 77.0 per game behind Julie Spencer (16.1, 7.8 rebounds), Darian Slaga (15.7) Haylee Andrews (12.5) and Maddie Muhlheim (9.8). Andrews is also dishing out assists at a 4.5 per-game clip. The Pilots won three in a row on the road to begin the season, defeating Utah Valley, Weber State and Hawaii.

The Pilots open conference play on the road as well, facing Pepperdine on Saturday afternoon at Firestone Fieldhouse and LMU on Monday at Gersten Pavilion, both games tipping off at 2 p.m.

BYU is likewise on the road to open the conference season, playing at Santa Clara on Saturday and at USF on Monday. Coach Jeff Judkins’ team beat Utah State, TCU and Colorado State in non-conference play as Shaylee Gonzales is averaging 17.2 points per game, second in the WCC. She’s supported by Paisley Johnson (12.6 ppg) and Brenna Chase (12.3 ppg).

Travel partners Saint Mary’s and Pacific play just once to start the conference season. The Gaels are in Stockton to play the Tigers on the 31^st at 5 p.m. as the last two teams to begin the WCC season. Notable in its non-conference season for Saint Mary’s were wins over Wyoming and at Washington State and an overtime loss to Cal, 81-78.

The Gaels lead the WCC in shooting, both inside the arc (.482) and beyond (.385). Coach Paul Thomas’ team relies heavily on senior forward Sydney Raggio, averaging 13.2 points and a conference-leading 8.5 rebounds per game. Another front-line player, Megan McKay, contributes 9.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per outing.

San Diego opens the conference season at USF on Saturday and at Santa Clara on Monday, both games at 2 p.m. The Toreros have the best rebounding margin in the WCC at +7.4 and are second in assists at 16.5 per game, big reasons why they are 7-4. USD doesn’t have anyone in the top 10 in scoring in the WCC, but Patricia Brossmann comes up big for coach Cindy Fisher’s team with 12.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Teammate Myah Pace leads the conference in assists with 5.3 per game.

Santa Clara is at home for the start of WCC play as it takes on BYU on Saturday and San Diego on Monday, both at 2 p.m. Notable in the Broncos’ non-conference record were wins over Nevada, San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton. Tia Hay makes hay for Santa Clara with 13.8 points per game, followed by Ashlyn Herlihy at 10.4, while junior Lauren Yearwood is fourth in the NCAA in blocked shots with 33.

USF, opening at home vs. San Diego and BYU, is getting 16.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game from point guard Shannon Powell. She’s supported by Julia Nielacna (12.0 ppg) and Kia Vaalavirta (10.0 ppg).