SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Nine West Coast Conference women’s basketball teams are competing in tournaments during the Thanksgiving week, stretching from the shores of Florida to the islands of Hawaii.
Several teams will represent the conference in some of the nation’s premier multi-team events this week. Gonzaga will play in the Coconut Hoops Tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, where the Zags will face Indiana on Friday and either No. 10 Iowa State or Marquette on Sunday. Oregon State and Washington State will compete in different divisions in the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as the Beavers will play No. 17 Vanderbilt on Thanksgiving and either BYU or Virginia Tech on Saturday, and the Cougars will face Miami (OH) on Friday and either No. 5 LSU or Marist on Saturday. Saint Mary’s battled with Oregon in its opening game of the Hoopfest Challenge in Frisco, Texas on Tuesday. The Gaels will face North Texas on Wednesday.
Portland and Pacific will host tournaments later this week, while San Diego will head to Arizona State, Santa Clara will travel to Hawaii and Seattle U will head to Miami for tournaments over the week.
LMU, Pepperdine and San Francisco will also be in action during the holiday week.
TRIO WITH FIVE WINS
Oregon State, Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara each entered the Thanksgiving week with five wins. The Beavers’ five victories are highlighted by a win over Illinois. Saint Mary’s won its first five contests for its best start in a decade. The Gaels’ only losses are on the road against California and against Oregon in a neutral site game. Santa Clara has taken down three Mountain West teams and owns a road victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The Broncos’ loan setbacks came at Stanford and a five-point defeat to Arizona State.
THREE IN THE TOP 25 IN BLOCKS
Three West Coast Conference teams rank in the top 25 in blocks per game through Tuesday’s action. Santa Clara ranks seventh at 7.57 bpg. Portland ranks 14th at 6.33 bpg and Oregon State is 22nd with 5.67 bpg. The West Coast Conference, the SEC, the Big 12 and the Big Ten are the only conferences with at least three teams in the top 25 in blocks per game.
RIDING THE WAVES
Pepperdine, under second-year head coach Katie Faulkner, has an entirely new roster this season and is off to its best start in seven years with four wins in its first five games. The Waves opened the 2018-19 season 5-1. Junior Shorna Preston, a transfer from Dodge City Community College, leads the West Coast Conference in rebounding at 8.8 boards per game. Sophomore Elli Guiney, a transfer from UNLV, ranks fifth in the conference in scoring at 16.6 points per game. Freshman Seleh Harmon leads the conference and ranks 12th nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.556). She also leads the conference in three-point field goals per game (3.0).
SAINT MARY’S DOING IT WITH DEFENSE
Saint Mary’s is allowing just 52.3 points per game, which leads the West Coast Conference and ranks 28th nationally. Edie Clarke leads the conference and ranks 21st nationally in steals, averaging 3.6 per contest. Offensively, seven different players are averaging at least five points per contest, led by Clarke with 9.7 ppg. She is also averaging a team-high 5.1 rebounds per contest.
NEWCOMERS LEADING DONS
San Francisco has 11 newcomers this season and several are making immediate impacts. Candy Edokpaigbe, a transfer from Seattle U, leads the West Coast Conference in scoring at 19.3 points per game She was named the conference’s player of the week on Monday, following a 22-point, seven-rebound performance in the win over Long Beach State last week. She added four assists and three steals in the contest. Edokpaigbe is coming off a 25-point performance in Tuesday’s win over Lehigh. She is averaging 23.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game during USF’s current three-game winning streak.
Freshman Noelia Mouriño collected a career-best 17 rebounds in the Dons’ win over Long Beach State last week. It’s the most by a first-year USF player in the Molly Goodenbour era and the most in the conference since Truitt Reilly of San Diego had 18 boards against Santa Clara on Feb. 15 of last season.
SHULER SHARING THE ROCK
Oregon State’s Kennedie Shuler recorded a career-high 14 assists in the win over Long Beach State last week. The total is one shy of the program record and is the most in a game in the West Coast Conference since Portland’s Haylee Andrews also recorded 14 assists in a game against San Francisco on Jan. 7, 2023. She leads the West Coast Conference and ranks 15th nationally in assists per game (6.5).
SANTA CLARA’S BALANCED ATTACK
Santa Clara, under the direction of new coach Loree Payne, is off to a 5-2 start. Sophie Glancey, a transfer from Northern Arizona where she previously played under Payne, is averaging 13.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game. Glancey is tied for third in the nation in blocks per contest through Tuesday’s games. Ashley Hawkins ranks second in the conference in assists at 5.6 apg. The Broncos rank seventh in the nation in blocks per game as a team at 7.57 per contest. Santa Clara’s balanced offensive attack includes four players averaging double figures, led by Maia Jones’ 15.1 ppg.
WHITTAKER MAKING INSTANT IMPACT FOR ZAGS
Gonzaga redshirt freshman Lauren Whittaker was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Week on Monday, for the second time in the first three weeks of the season. She recorded the first double-double of her career with 15 points and a career-high 13 rebounds in Gonzaga’s last contest. She is third in the conference in scoring, averaging 17.0 ppg, and second in the league in rebounding, averaging 7.8 rpg. Whittaker posted 29 points against Colorado State earlier this season, the most by a conference player so far this season.
INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE
The West Coast Conference has the greatest percentage of international student-athletes of any Division I conference in the nation. Overall, 44.1 percent of rostered student-athletes across the 12 women’s basketball programs in the West Coast Conference are from outside of the United States. There is a total of 71 international student-athletes on rosters in the West Coast Conference this season. San Francisco boasts the most with 11 international student-athletes from eighth different countries. Oregon State has10 international student-athletes of its 15 from six different countries. Washington State has nine international student-athletes from eight different countries.
COACHES EYE MILESTONE VICTORIES
Washington State head coach Kamie Ethridge is one win away from No. 200 for her career. She owns a 199-153 overall record in her 12th season as a head coach. Ethridge owns 116 wins in her eighth year at WSU. Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier is closing in on her 300th career victory. She is one of the nation’s winningest active coaches with a record of 292-77 (79.1%).