SAN BRUNO, Calif. – After a wild Thursday in West Coast Conference women’s basketball, Gonzaga and Oregon State are tied at the top of the league standings with 5-1 records. While the Pacific Northwest powers will meet next Thursday in Corvallis, both teams will play Saturday as part of a full six-game conference slate. Behind the Zags and Beavers are a trio of two-loss teams in LMU (4-2), Portland (4-2) and Santa Clara (5-2).
Saturday’s action begins with three games at 2 p.m. Gonzaga will host San Diego (1-5) and Oregon State will remain in the Los Angeles area to face Pepperdine (2-4) in Malibu. LMU will look to extend its winning streak to three games with a trip to Stockton to face Pacific (2-4). There are three evening games on the schedule, as the Broncos will head to Moraga for a Bay Area battle with Saint Mary’s (2-4) and Seattle U (1-5) will face Portland in a Pacific Northwest battle at 5 p.m. San Francisco (3-3) meets Washington State (3-4) at 6 p.m. in Pullman.
A LOOK BACK AT THURSDAY’S ACTION
LMU handed Oregon State its first loss in conference play with a 55-51 victory over the Beavers at home. The Lions held OSU to its lowest point total of the season, limiting the Beavers to just six points in the fourth quarter. LMU got another solid performance from Jess Lawson, who had 14 points and 16 rebounds as the Lions ended the Beavers’ seven-game winning streak.
Led by Lauren Whittaker’s 10th double-double of the season (26 points and 11 rebounds), and 25 points from Allie Turner, Gonzaga earned its second straight double-digit victory with an 82-69 win over San Francisco at home.
Portland scored 50 of its 73 total points in the second half to erase a double-digit deficit and defeat Santa Clara on the road. Dyani Ananiev led the way with a career-best 22 points in the win. The nation’s leading shot blocker, Julia Dalan, matched her career high with eight rejections in the victory. Florence Dallow added a career-best 17 points for the Pilots. Santa Clara, which was without Sophia Glancey, had a cold shooting night, finishing 31.6 percent from the floor overall and 22.6 percent from three-point range.
Washington State controlled the boards, 51-30, and controlled the result at the end as the Cougars outlasted Saint Mary’s, 68-64, in overtime on the road. Eleonora Villa led WSU offensively with 16 points. Villa ranks 19th in the nation in total points (358). After missing the first 13 games, Alex Covill has made her presence felt in the WSU rotation. She finished with nine points, five rebounds and four blocks in Thursday’s win.
Pepperdine never trailed in a 71-53 victory over Pacific at home. Lina Falk paced the Waves with a career-high 26 points. Sydney Ward finished with a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Pacific in the defeat.
ZAGS CONNECTING FROM DEEP
Gonzaga is second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage at .405. The Bulldogs have connected on 136-of-336 three-point attempts. The Zags finished with 11 threes in Thursday’s win over San Francisco, finishing 11-of-20 from beyond the arc. Allie Turner leads the conference and is tied for 12th nationally with 53 three pointers. She also leads the conference and ranks ninth nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.461). Since conference play began, Turner is tied for second nationally with 21 three-point field goals in conference action. Turner was among the national leaders in three-point field goals (105) during her All-America freshman season last year.
WHITTAKER AMONG FRESHMAN LEADERS
Gonzaga freshman Lauren Whittaker, a candidate for national freshman of the year honors, leads the league in scoring (19.9 ppg), rebounding (10.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (.577). The forward ranks in the top two nationally among freshmen in nine statistical categories. She leads all freshmen with 10 double-doubles on the season.
NATION’S BLOCKS LEADER
Portland freshman Julia Dalan leads the nation in blocks (65) and blocks per game (3.6). She enters Saturday with 10 more blocks than the next highest shot blocker. Dalan matched her career high with eight blocks in Thursday’s win at Santa Clara. She first posted eight rejections against No. 11 USC Nov. 18. The Portland freshman has recorded multiple blocks in 15 of 18 games and is the only player in the nation to have multiple games of at least eight blocks. Dalan was the fastest Pilot freshman to 50 blocks and is two shy of the Portland freshman record for blocks in a season.
LAWSON IN CONFERENCE PLAY
LMU’s Jess Lawson, who is averaging 15.2 points per game overall, is averaging 16.8 ppg in six conference games. She posted 16 rebounds in Thursday’s win over Oregon State, two shy of her career-best total. In league action, Lawson is averaging 8.5 rebounds per contest. Lawson ranks sixth in the West Coast Conference in scoring and fourth in rebounding during league contests.
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% of rostered student-athletes across the 12 programs are from outside of the U.S. There is a total of 71 international student-athletes on rosters in the conference this season. San Francisco boasts the most with 11 international student-athletes from eight different countries. Oregon State has10 international student-athletes from six countries. Washington State has nine international student-athletes from eight countries. The Dec. 28 game between Oregon State and San Francisco featured 21 international student-athletes between the two rosters. It was the