Gonzaga women’s basketball announces nonconference schedule
Gonzaga released its 2024-25 women’s basketball nonconference schedule on Wednesday, showing five of the 11 games set at home.
Three of the six road games will be at the Paradise Jam tournament in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, during the Thanksgiving weekend. It’s the second time Gonzaga has gone to the tournament. The first was in 2016-17.
Gonzaga opens the season at home on Nov. 5 against Montana. That’s four days after the Zags have an exhibition at home against NAIA College of Idaho.
The Zags’ first road game is at traditional NCAA power Stanford, which begins a new era. Longtime coach Tara Vandeveer retired after last season when Gonzaga beat the Cardinal 96-78 at McCarthey Athletic Center. It was the Zags’ highest-ranked nonconference win in school history.
The game at Stanford, California, is followed by three straight home games – Nov. 14 against California, Nov. 17 against Wyoming and Nov. 21 against Rice.
Gonzaga next plays five straight on the road.
It starts with a game at New Mexico on Nov. 24, three in the Virgin Islands Nov. 28-30 against Missouri State, Texas Tech and Florida State, and concluding with a game Dec. 7 at Colorado State.
The final nonconference game is Dec. 14 at home against defending Big Sky champ Eastern Washington.
The Zags begin their expanded West Coast Conference schedule – with Washington State and Oregon State – with road games Dec. 19 and 21 at San Francisco and San Diego, respectively.
Game times and television information will be released soon.
Eight of the nonconference opponents finished in the top 100 in the NET last year and four made the NCAA Tournament.
Gonzaga played Cal, Rice, Wyoming and Stanford last season – all victories. It’s the fifth straight season the Zags have played Wyoming.
This season will mark the fourth time Gonzaga has played Missouri State.
The last time Gonzaga played Florida State was at Paradise Jam in 2016-17.