WCC

[azfan]

Loree Payne's Broncos trail 13-0 to open the game against the Beavers at Corvallis.

Santa Clara however prove they're never out of a game with their absolute commitment to the three as they find their stride in the second half.

Santa Clara puts up 40 threes, scores 51 in the second half while the Beavers perhaps from exhaustion score 22.

Santa Clara 83 Oregon State 70.

The stretch is going to be critical for the top four teams in the WCC as they battle it out to get that first round bye.

Gonzaga in first place seems a good bet to get that first round bye and Santa Clara is locked in a scrum for that second spot. Even if the Broncos win out they're going to need some help.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well it got really interesting today. LMU beat Gonzaga, those 2 are tied for 1st now. Oregon St. broke their losing streak, they are 1 game back. Portland and Santa Clara both 1 1/2 games behind.


Kennedie Shuler scored 31 today. As a Fr. she didn't seem like the kind of player who would ever be capable of that. Even last she that didn't seem possible.

Beavs flipped the script from their last game. Down 11 at halftime, outscored Pacific 48-27 in the 2nd half.


Back to Gonzaga, somebody finally figured out how to neutralize Whittaker. She only scored 10 today. Seems like she's been dominating in most of their WCC games.


edit--Portland and Santa Clara play tonight; winner still in the hunt, loser realistically out of it at 2 games back and the season winding down

 

[azfan]

Loree Payne leads Santa Clara to an important road 11 point victory over Portland to move to 10 and 4.

Just as they did against Oregon State they closed down their opponent in the second half holding the Pilots to under 30.

This was an entirely different offensive game for Santa Clara as they only took 20 threes.

 

[azfan]

Tip at Orleans for the first game of the tournament. 7 of the 10 on the floor are non USA 4 for the Cougs and 3 for Seattle, who was characterized in teams reminiscent of hapless.

6-8 Cougs at the first media time out and it is clear why these two teams are playing in the first game

Pre game I brought my Santa Clara shirt.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Ha ha. Cougs roll 80-58. Not all bad teams are created equal.

 

[azfan]

Ha ha. Cougs roll 80-58. Not all bad teams are created equal.

You were totally right about Seattle. When I watched them earlier on ESPN+ I thought I saw something.

OMG in person . . . they, well

I admire all these college athletes and coaches, but

Seattle needs to both figure out personnel and perhaps coaching? Any way, after a 17-17 first quarter, it was no contest.

What is interesting is, 90 per cent of the fans at Orleans were wearing Gonzaga gear. I was the only person repping Santa Clara.

That said, the St. Mary v UCSD was the best (closest) game I've seen so far here in Grift City

 

[nwhoopfan]

You were totally right about Seattle. When I watched them earlier on ESPN+ I thought I saw something.

OMG in person . . . they, well

They probably should've stayed D2. They weren't even the best program in the GNAC when they moved up. They've had a few good years, but A LOT of really bad seasons in their 15ish years of D1. Their current coach, in Year 3, clearly isn't turning it around. Not sure what it would take to succeed there.

 

[nwhoopfan]

What is interesting is, 90 per cent of the fans at Orleans were wearing Gonzaga gear. I was the only person repping Santa Clara.

I think GU fans have dominated attendance for both men's and women's WCC tourney as long as it's been in Vegas. Probably BYU turned out fairly well when they were in the conference. When GU (and OSU and WSU) leave after this season, will any fans show up after that?

 

[azfan]

10 minutes till tip at Orleans in a great battle of bands in the pregame between the Coug and Pacific. I'm guessing I need to just shut up and dance. I got to say I like Pacific fight song a little more than WSU.

Well we'll see how much juice is in the Coug's legs after putting 80 up. I'm expecting they're going to be pretty fresh.

Pacific's claim to fame is beating Santa Clara and laying 90 on Loree Payne's squad last month. Now I know Payne is not a big big defensive coach but that's still kind of a tribute. The leading scorer in that game for Pacific was freshman Sophia Mindermann who hit four threes as she put up 19 points. Haven't seen WSU defense yet as I suspect my wife and I wouldn't have a problem shutting down Seattle.

I'm actually more interested in the second game today as the winner will play Santa Clara tomorrow.

Once again more Gonzaga fans in the house then Cougs or Tigers

One last observation. Yesterday and today the singers of the national anthem seem to be auditioning for American Idol. I always appreciate a reserved presentation so we can focus on the lyrics.

 

[azfan]

After giving up the first 4 points of the game the Cougs go on a 19-4 run. Tigers coach Bradley Davis picks up a T midway through the quarter.

So half of the games I've seen so far have a coach picking up a T. Boise State coach Gordy Presnell has always struck me as a bit of an.... acquired TASTE which I never have acquired. Got to admire a coach with 700 victories but....

Gordy's teams' loss Wednesday night was really consequential. I'm really anxious to see how they perform tomorrow against hapless San Jose. I have a suspicion of his team is going to take out his frustrations.

BTW I wish ASU had the Coug's Italian rather than ours. Villa really has been impressive.

This is great, the official just came over to the director for the Cougar pep band and told them stop playing...lol.

 

[nwhoopfan]

BTW I wish ASU had the Coug's Italian rather than ours. Villa really has been impressive.

She's been good since she stepped foot on the court 3 years ago.

 

[azfan]

No band for USD the second game ..SD investing in NIL instead?

SF starts an entirely int'l line up.

Most of the Gonzaga fans seem to have left the building .... perhaps for the slots?

SF swept USD, winning both games by 4 points.

Pepperdine plays the winner. SF won their only meeting. USD split.

 

[azfan]

Semi set for tomorrow at the Orleans - in the first game Loree Payne takes her Broncos up against Gonzaga. For the most field goals made in today Santa Clara watch 25-3 in an 87 60 something win over San Francisco.

And the second game Oregon State takes on LMU.

Looking forward to seeing Whitaker and I believe they also have several excellent three-point shooter. Fingers crossed it gets into a shootout because I'm not sure that Santa Clara is prepared to win a game in the 60s

The late afternoon and evening will be for the MW semis over at Thomas Mack Arena.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Looking forward to seeing Whitaker and I believe they also have several excellent three-point shooter.

Allie Turner. Came from nowhere to have a very good Fr. season last year and has continued to excel as a Soph.

 

[azfan]

Allie Turner. Came from nowhere to have a very good Fr. season last year and has continued to excel as a Soph.

Santa Clara won the game with the Zags regular season by three points 77-74. They're estatic in Santa Clara over the hiring of Payne and finaling in this tournament would be the cherry on the sundae. And dancing..... Don't get me started.

 

[azfan]

Outstanding crowd for the first WCC semi. There may actually be more dog fans then beavers but there's tons of orange and red in the house.

43-37 OSU Midway through the third. After a real slow first quarter that ended tied at 13 teams have really discovered a rhythm.

The Beaver's height seems to do be disrupting the Lions. LMU scoring phenom Lawson has cooled off after starting five for five She has 13 points and six boards.

Edit

45-43 OSU at the end of 3. Ally "no not Shonie" Schimel is leading the Beavers with 15, tying her season high set in an OT win at Gonzaga

Edit

Ally just set her season high with an elbow jumper. She played 39 minutes yesterday in the quarterfinal win over Portland and today and if I'm not mistaken she's playing every second of this game ...58-50 with 4 minutes remaining. Looks like Scott will take his team to the final against Zag or Loree Payne's Santa Clara Broncos.

 

[nwhoopfan]

In their brief stop over in the WCC, Oregon St. is the team you don't want to face in the conference tourney. Took out the #1 and #2 seed on their way to the auto bid last year, on the verge of taking out the #1 seed again.

Schimel was a very high scorer in high school at a smaller level school in Oregon. That has not translated to D1 so far, but she is a good defender and a player Rueck obviously trusts and wants to have on the court as much as possible. Shuler used to be a non scoring threat and she really blossomed this year, so maybe Schimel can get there too.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The last minute is going to take 10 minutes at this pace. LMU playing the fouling game, but OSU is hitting from the charity stripe.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well, not over yet. OSU needs to stop fouling. They fouled on a 3, LMU hit all 3 FTs, then just had an and-1 for another 3 points. 8 point lead cut to 4 in a hurry.

 

[nwhoopfan]

LMU is not wasting any clock. They keep fouling about a second after the ball is inbounded. They must not be making any real effort to get TOs, just straight going for the foul.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Whew, 73-67 final. Villa w/ a bunch of FTs at the end gets her up to 22 pts, Schimel had 21. Game high 25 for Lawson.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Now I have been known to point out FT discrepancies. This was a big one, 27-8 in favor of OSU. But at least 12 of those FTs for the Beavs came in the last minute when LMU was fouling on purpose.

 

[azfan]

1 minute to tip.

Bronco fans outnumbered 99.9 to .1

Zag fans Fired up!!!

 

[JellyBean]

Let's go, Zags!!