Gonzaga women move up one spot, back to No. 22 in AP poll

Two days after beating BYU, the Gonzaga women moved up one spot, to 22nd in the Associated Press poll released Monday.

The Zags’ only action last week was their 67-58 win over the Cougars in the West Coast Conference opener on Saturday in the Kennel.

Gonzaga was 10-2 going into Monday night’s home game against San Diego.

The Zags received 114 total votes, up from 100 last week, well behind No. 21 Creighton’s 133 votes but far ahead of the 86 received by No. 23 Oklahoma.

However, Gonzaga is ranked far lower – 37th – in the NCAA’s NET rankings, a major factor in seeding for the NCAA tournament. A week ago the Zags were 24th in NET.

Defending NCAA champion South Carolina remains No. 1, followed by Stanford, Ohio State, Indiana and Notre Dame.

In addition to Stanford, four other Pac-12 teams are ranked: No. 11 UCLA, No. 12 Utah, No. 16 Oregon and No. 18 Arizona.

GU senior guard Brynna Maxwell ranks in the top five in Division 1 in two major categories, 3-point shooting percentage and free throw shooting percentage.

Against BYU, the senior from Gig Harbor, Washington, made two of four shots, which actually dropped her 3-point percentage to 54.1 (33 for 61). That’s good enough for fifth in the nation.

Maxwell ranks even higher in free-throw shooting percentage – third, at 97.3% (36 of 37).

As a team, Gonzaga is third in free-throw percentage with 81.41%, or 162 out of 199.