SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Several women’s basketball teams look to continue to position themselves at the top of the West Coast Conference with five games on the schedule Saturday. Oregon State and Santa Clara are each coming off convincing wins Thursday and have each won their last three games. OSU (8-1) leads Santa Clara (8-2) by a half game for first place in the conference standings. The Beavers host San Francisco and the Broncos host Pepperdine Saturday, with both games set for 1:00 p.m. PT.
Kennedie Shuler, a U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week honoree this week, poured in a career-high 24 in the 61-43 win over San Diego Thursday as the Beavers have won 10 of their last 11 overall.
Santa Clara, which owns the largest margin of victory average in the conference, built on that average Thursday night with a 31-point win over Washington State. The Broncos are the first West Coast Conference team to top the century mark in conference play with the 102-71 win. Ashley Hawkins led the high-powered offense with 20 points in the victory.
LMU has won five of its last six games after a 19-point win over Pacific Thursday night. The Lions are right in the mix at the top of the conference at 7-3 in league play. They host Seattle U Saturday at 2:00 p.m. PT
The game of the night Thursday was on the Hilltop, as Gonzaga outlasted San Francisco, 74-66, in overtime for the Zags’ fourth win in five games. Gonzaga is a game behind Oregon State at 7-2 in the conference. Lauren Whittaker nearly posted her sixth double-double in her last seven games, finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds against the Dons. Her bucket with four seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime and the Zags used a 12-4 run in the extra session to secure the win.
Gonzaga battles Washington State in Pullman at 7:00 p.m. PT Saturday. Gonzaga won both of its matchups against Washington State last season.
Portland held Saint Mary’s to 42 points in a 26-point victory Thursday night. The Pilots host San Diego at 5:00 p.m. PT Saturday in a battle featuring two of the conference’s top defensive teams. The Toreros rank third, allowing 62.1 ppg, while the Pilots are fourth, holding opponents to 62.5 ppg.
After scoring a then-season-high 86 points last Saturday, Pepperdine topped that total with 90 points in a 90-63 win over Seattle U Thursday. Elli Guiney led Pepperdine with 23 points and Bella Green scored a career-high 20. The 27-point win was the Waves’ largest against a Division I opponent since the 2021-22 season (defeated CSU Bakersfield 80-53 on Dec. 27, 2021).
SATURDAY’S SAN FRANCISCO-OREGON STATE GAME FEATURES THE SECOND-MOST INTERNATIONAL STUDENT-ATHLETES BETWEEN TWO TEAMS IN A DIVISION I GAME THIS SEASON
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 programs are from outside of the United States. There is a total of 71 international student-athletes on rosters in the conference this season. Saturday’s game between Oregon State and San Francisco (also played on Dec. 28) features 21 student-athletes from 13 different countries outside of the United States between the two rosters. It is tied for the second-most combined total of rostered international student-athletes in a Division I game this season. The South Florida-FIU and Wagner-Columbia matchups this season each featured 22 combined international student-athletes on the rosters.
San Francisco boasts the most international student-athletes in the conference with 11 from eight different countries outside of the U.S. Oregon State has 10 international student-athletes from six countries outside of the U.S. Washington State has nine international student-athletes from eight countries outside of the U.S.
SANTA CLARA MATCHES BEST START IN 25 YEARS
At 18-5 overall, Santa Clara has matched its best 23-game start in 25 seasons. The Broncos have matched their best 10-game start to conference play in 20 seasons. Santa Clara has nine wins by at least 20 points this season following Thursday’s 31-point win over Washington State. Its 82.5 points per game leads the conference in scoring. The Broncos’ 16.9 average margin of victory leads the conference by more than eight points.
Over its last two games, Santa Clara has scored a combined 195 points and won by a combined total of 65 points.
LIONS OFF TO BEST CONFERENCE START SINCE 2009
LMU has started West Coast Conference play with a 7-3 record, its best 10-game start to league play since 2009 when the Lions also opened conference play 7-3. LMU finished the non-conference portion of its schedule 6-5 with a 41.8 field goal percentage and averaged 65.0 ppg. In conference play, the Lions are averaging 10 more points per game (75.7 ppg) and shooting 44.1 percent. The Lions swept Pacific for the first time in four years and snapped a nine-game losing streak to Portland already this season. They are the lone conference team to hand Oregon State a loss. Jess Lawson is tied for eighth in the conference in scoring (15.6 ppg), ranks fourth in rebounding (7.9 rpg) and sixth in steals (2.0 spg) in league play.
MIDSEASON WATCH LISTS
The West Coast Conference has been represented on several midseason watch lists for national awards the past two weeks. On Tuesday, Portland’s Julia Dalan, the nation’s leader in blocks, was named to the midseason watch list for the Naismith Women’s College Defensive Player of the Year Award. On Wednesday, Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier was named to the midseason watch list for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award. Last week, Gonzaga’s Lauren Whittaker was named to the midseason watch list for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award.
SHULER NOTCHES CAREER HIGH AFTER NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
Kennedie Shuler of Oregon State, who was named a U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week on Tuesday, registered a career-high 24 points to go along with seven rebounds in the win over San Diego Thursday. In the previous game, the OSU guard nearly recorded a triple double in leading Oregon State to a 92-87 overtime victory over Gonzaga. She finished with 17 points, 10 steals, nine assists, five rebounds and three blocks in the win. Shuler was the first West Coast Conference player to record at least 10 steals in a game since Haiden Palmer’s 10-steal performance for Gonzaga on March 23, 2013. She is one of four players in the country since at least the 1999-2000 season to record at least 10 steals and at least three blocks in a game.