SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Two West Coast Conference teams continue postseason play this week as Pepperdine and Portland have advanced to the Super 16 of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
Pepperdine will play South Dakota in just the Waves’ second appearance in the WNIT Super 16 in the program’s history. Pepperdine and South Dakota played earlier this season when the Waves earned a 73-65 home victory in the Malibu Classic in December.
Pepperdine advanced to the WNIT Super 16 with wins over UC Davis and Southern Utah at home last week. Elli Guiney posted a career-high 27 points and Taija Sta. Maria hit the game winner with a three as time expired in the 71-68 first-round win over UC Davis. Sta. Maria poured in 22 points to guide the Waves to an 85-80 win over Southern Utah in the second round. With 21 wins already this season, Pepperdine has posted its first 20-win season since 2019.
Pepperdine is playing in its first postseason tournament in seven seasons. The Waves hosted postseason tournament games for the first time in program history this year. The 2025-26 Pepperdine roster is made up of four freshmen and eight transfer students in their first year with the program. Guiney leads the Waves in scoring at 14.9 ppg. She ranks ninth in the conference in scoring overall.
Portland will head to Montana State Thursday. The Pilots, making their 14th postseason tournament appearance in program history, earned two home victories to advance to the WNIT Super 16.
The Pilots defeated Sam Houston, 62-59, in a first-round contest, and then Lamar, 78-68, in the second round. In the win over the Bearcats in round one, Portland’s Dyani Ananiev led the way with a team-high 18 points along with a career-high six blocks. This was the fourth time this season a Pilot had six or more blocks in a game. Portland leads the conference in blocks with 5.59 per game, good for 11th in the nation. With two wins already this year, the Pilots have earned postseason victories in four of the last six years.
Portland leads the West Coast Conference and ranks ninth nationally in total blocks with 190. The Pilots are averaging 5.59 blocks per game which leads the league and ranks 11th nationally. Portland also ranks 24th nationally in turnovers forced per game (20.6), 28th in assists per game (16.8) and 29th in steals per game (11.09). Ananiev ranks 49th nationally with a conference-leading 2.5 steals per game. Nicole Anderson (61) and Ananiev (60) have combined for 121 of Portland’s 241 three-pointers this season. Anderson ranks 10th in the conference and Ananiev 11th in total threes this season. Ryhan Mogel ranks fifth in the conference in assists per game (4.6).
POSTSEASON ACTION ENDS FOR FOUR PROGRAMS
Elsewhere in the West Coast Conference’s record-setting seven postseason tournament bids, Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Tournament Champion Gonzaga faced Ole Miss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 11th-seeded Bulldogs fell to the third-seeded Rebels, 81-66.
Three programs were in action in the WBIT last Thursday. West Coast Conference regular season champion LMU battled No. 2 seed Stanford to the end in an 80-76 defeat, Oregon State lost at home to No. 3 seed Wisconsin, 62-58, and Santa Clara fell to No. 3 seed California, 72-68.
San Francsico earned a first round WNIT victory, its first since the 2020-21 season, defeating Utah Valley 80-50, before dropping a 69-53 decision at Montana State in the second round of the postseason tournament. All-Conference member Candy Edokpaigebe led the team in scoring in both contests with 20 points.
CONFERENCE-RECORD POSTSEASON BID BREAKDOWN
The West Coast Conference had a conference-record seven postseason bids this season. The previous record was six total postseason bids, earned on five occasions (2025, 2022, 2019, 2016 and 2015). Over the past two seasons, the West Coast Conference has earned 13 postseason bids in women’s basketball, the most in any two-year stretch in conference history.
Gonzaga represented the league in the NCAA Tournament, while the conference had a league-record three WBIT selections in LMU, Santa Clara and Oregon State. It marked the second consecutive year the conference earned multiple WBIT selections. Among the 20 different conferences represented in the 32-team WBIT field, the West Coast Conference and the Big 12 Conference are the lone conferences to earn at least three bids. The West Coast Conference recorded three WNIT selections for the fourth time in five years, with Pepperdine, Portland and San Francisco earning bids this season. It is the fifth time in seven years and 18th time overall the conference has earned multiple selections to the event. It is the 10th time the conference has earned at least three bids. The league earned four bids on three occasions (2015, 2016, 2019).
FRESHMAN PHENOM LAUREN WHITTAKER
Freshman Lauren Whittaker became only the second player in league history to be voted the West Coast Conference Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year (Sonya Carter of U.S. International, an affiliate member of the conference at the time earned both honors in 1986). She then went out and collected Most Outstanding Player honors for the Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship. She averaged 21.0 points and 9.0 rebounds while shooting 48.3 percent from the field in leading Gonzaga to the conference tournament title. Whittaker leads all freshmen and ranks 14th overall in double-doubles with 17. She is second among all freshmen in points with 649 on the year. Whittaker ranks 15th nationally in defensive rebounds per game (7.9), 23rd in total rebounds per game (10.2), 33rd in points per game (19.1) and 34th in field goal percentage (.536).
Whittaker, who was named a Kay Yow Servant Leader in November, was named a semifinalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award.
WEST COAST CONFERENCE AMONG THE TOP CONFERENCES IN SEVERAL CATEGORIES
The West Coast Conference ranks among the top eight conferences in Division I in 11 statistical categories. The league is fourth in free throw percentage (.731).
| CATEGORY |
RANK |
STATISTIC |
| Free Throw Percentage |
4 |
.731 |
| Assists Per Game |
6 |
14.4 |
| Field Goal Percentage |
7 |
.414 |
| 3-Point FG Percentage |
7 |
.314 |
| Assist/Turnover Ratio |
7 |
0.89 |
| Total Assists |
7 |
5,688 |
| Rebounds Per Game |
8 |
37.4 |
| Field Goals Made Per Game |
8 |
24.8 |
| 3-Point FGs Made |
8 |
2,499 |
| Total Field Goals Made |
8 |
9,759 |
| Total Blocks |
8 |
1,262 |
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 programs are from outside of the U.S. There are 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. OSU has 10 student-athletes from six countries. WSU has nine student-athletes from eight countries. The matchups between OSU and USF on Dec. 28th and Jan. 31st featured 21 international student-athletes between the two rosters. It is the second-most in a Division I game this season.
CONFERENCE RECORDS BROKEN
Gonzaga’s Allie Turner set a conference record for free throw percentage during conference games, finishing 45-of-46 (.978) in league action. She finished 86-of-90 (.956) from the line overall this season and now also holds the conference record for free throw percentage in a season overall.
Turner also owns a career three-point field goal percentage of .463 (194-of-419) which ranks first on the conference’s career list (minimum 80 three-point field goals). She had career-high nine threes against Saint Mary’s on Feb. 26. Turner is second nationally in three-point field goal percentage this season at .471.
Seattle U’s .833 free throw percentage in conference games this year is the top mark in conference history during league action.
Santa Clara set a record with 177 three-pointers made in league games this season. The mark bested the previous record of 160 set by Gonzaga in 2023-24. The Broncos attempted a conference-record 571 three-pointers in league games.
TURN OF THE TIDE
Three teams finished in the top half of the conference regular season standings after bottom-four finishes last season.
Pepperdine has improved its win total by 13 games from year ago. The Waves enter the Super 16 of the WNIT with a 21-12 overall record after finishing 8-22 last season. Pepperdine won seven more conference games this year (10-8) than it did a season ago (3-17). The Waves’ 10-8 record was their best conference win total since 2019. After placing 10th in the conference a year ago, the Waves were sixth this season.
LMU won the regular season title for the first time since the 2003-04 season after finishing ninth last season. It was the first time any program has achieved such a rise in the league standings. Overall, LMU had a seven-win improvement from the year before, finishing this season 21-10 after a 14-16 finish to the 2024-25 season.
Santa Clara, in its first year under head coach Loree Payne, was the third seed in the conference tournament after an eighth-place finish in 2024-25. The Broncos improved their overall win total by 10 games from a year ago, finishing 24-10 this season (14-17 in 2024-25).
DISHING OUT DIMES
The West Coast Conference boasts the sixth-highest assist per game average in the nation, at 14.4 assists per contest. Three conference players rank in the top 40 in the nation, including Santa Clara’s Ashley Hawkins (10th, 6.1 apg), Oregon State’s Kennedie Shuler (26th, 5.3 apg) and Pacific’s Daria Nestorov (40th, 4.9 apg).
Hawkins’ 121 assists in conference games this season was eighth-best in conference history. Her 209 assists overall this season were 11th-best in a season in league history.
FORTIER FASTEST TO 300 DIVISION I WINS
Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier earned her 300th career win on Jan. 2 in the Zags’ 85-59 victory at Seattle U. Fortier. She became the fastest active Division I head coach to reach 300 Division I wins, reaching the milestone in her 379th career game, matching LSU head coach Kim Mulkey.
Fortier owns the highest winning percentage in conference history with an 86.4% in conference games. She owns the second-highest win total in conference history with 185 career league wins.