Women’s basketball: Gonzaga and Portland on track for another WCC Tournament showdown

As it turns out, all talk Saturday about the Gonzaga women’s basketball team being on the brink of securing a double bye into the West Coast Conference tournament was moot.

Three hours after the Bulldogs beat Loyola Marymount 69-57, Portland completed a sweep of Washington State. That put the Cougars, in solo third place, four losses behind the two-loss Zags, who swept WSU.

GU coach Lisa Fortier vaguely acknowledged Saturday that she knew her team was close to securing a double bye. She’s more focused on finishing the regular season on a good note – and winning 13 consecutive games at this point is pointing in that direction.

Portland (24-3, 13-3), which has upset Gonzaga (19-8, 14-2) the past two years in the WCC Tournament championship game, is all but a lock to clinch the other double bye.

“In the fall I wouldn’t say (winning a WCC championship), but it was going to be a different path to the double bye,” Fortier said. “It makes a big difference, especially this year without the day off (in the schedule). I think that’s always kind of been a secret advantage for the third and fourth (seeds), in my opinion.”

The day off was in place for when BYU was in the conference. The WCC took it out this year.

“This year, having to play consecutive days, then that might be a positive thing for us,” Fortier said.

Fortier expects tough tests from Saint Mary’s and San Francisco this week.

“Saint Mary’s gave us everything we could handle for most of that game and then we got a big one on Saturday,” Fortier said.

If the Cougars (16-12, 11-6) win their final three, they will get a bye into the quarterfinals.

The other quarterfinal bye is up for grabs. WSU is likely to land on Portland’s side of the bracket and that means Saint Mary’s (13-12, 9-7), Oregon State (13-14, 9-7) and San Francisco (12-13, 9-7) are jockeying to be the fourth seed.

Santa Clara (14-13, 8-9) and Pacific (12-15, 8-9) are locks for second-round games. LMU (10-14, 4-12), Pepperdine (8-18, 3-14), San Diego 6-19, 2-14) are vying to stay out of the opening-round game.

The tournament begins March 6 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The semifinals are March 10 and the title game is March 11.

Gonzaga doesn’t have a safety net this year as it has the past two seasons. The Zags made the NCAA Tournament the last two years thanks to at-large berths.

Only the WCC Tournament champ will advance to March Madness. For that to happen for the Zags, they will have to do something they haven’t done in three years.

Finish at home

Gonzaga finishes play at McCarthey Athletic Center this week when it welcomes Saint Mary’s on Thursday and San Francisco on Senior Day on Saturday.

San Francisco beat the Zags 73-58 in a conference opener in mid-December.

Gonzaga’s final two games are at Pacific on Feb. 27 and at Santa Clara on March 1.

Washington State concludes at home this week, too, taking on San Francisco on Thursday and Saint Mary’s on Saturday.

The Cougars’ final game is Feb. 27 at Pepperdine.

WSU sits in a distant third behind Gonzaga and Portland, but the Cougars showed improvement in the loss at Portland on Saturday.

Five players scored in double figures as WSU came up short 84-79. This came after getting blown out by the Pilots 83-65 a month ago.

It’s the first time this season WSU has had five double-digit scorers. Lone senior Tara Wallack led the way, scoring 15 points to go with eight assists and five rebounds.

Eastern Washington (10-15, 6-7 Big Sky Conference) posted a big win Saturday at home against Idaho (16-8, 8-5).

The Eagles are in fifth place.

Eastern is at home this week for two, taking on Northern Colorado (12-13, 5-9) on Thursday and second-place Northern Arizona (21-6, 12-2) on Saturday.

Montana State (24-2, 14-0) continues to lead the Big Sky.

Postseason projection

Every year in early December, Charlier Creme of ESPN begins posting his NCAA Tournament bracket projections.

Last year he had the WCC receiving two berths to March Madness. That was largely due to the special season Gonzaga was having.

This year it’s firm – the WCC will have just one team in the tournament, the automatic qualifier.

For the past month, Creme has had Gonzaga winning the WCC Tournament and earning the bid.

He’s had the Zags playing anywhere from Columbus, Ohio, to Fort Worth, Texas, to now Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

It appears the WCC winner will be slotted as a 14th seed. This week Creme has Gonzaga playing No. 3 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The WCC Tournament champ shouldn’t be the lone team playing in the postseason. Last year, the first installment of the 32-team WBIT, included Santa Clara and then Washington State of the Pac-12.

WSU advanced to the Final Four.

At least one team and maybe two will earn berths this year.

Weekly honor

Washington State freshman post Dayana Mendes was named the WCC Freshman of the Week. It’s the second time this season she has been given the honor. She had 25 points, 19 rebounds and five assists while shooting 52.6% in two games last week.