LAS VEGAS, Nev. --- Reigning league champion Gonzaga has been selected as the favorite to repeat as the 2019 West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Champions in the annual preseason poll of the WCC's 10 head coaches. The Bulldogs claimed seven of 10 first place votes while also placing a league-high three student-athletes on the Preseason All-WCC team.
Gonzaga (27-6, 17-1) claimed 79 points to finish atop the preseason poll after taking the double in both 2017 and 2018 with the WCC regular season and championship crowns both years.
Saint Mary's (20-11, 13-5) received two first place votes and was the preseason pick to finish second in the conference with 73 points. The Gaels were followed by BYU (16-4, 11-7) in third with 66 points and the final first-place vote.
Loyola Marymount (19-11, 11-7) and San Diego (17-15, 8-10) were picked fourth and fifth with 52 and 49 points, respectively. The Toreros advanced to the WCC Championship game last season in a strong run in Las Vegas as the sixth-seed.
Four points separated the sixth, seventh and eighth spots on the poll between Santa Clara, Pacific and San Francisco. The Broncos (9-21, 5-13) were selected sixth with 35 points with the Tigers (15-17, 7-11) finishing one point ahead of the Dons (16-15, 10-8) with a 32-to-31 point edge.
Pepperdine and Portland round out the preseason poll with the Waves collecting 24 points for ninth followed by the Pilots. Pepperdine (10-20, 5-13) earned their most points in the preseason poll since the 2012-13 season while Portland (7-23, 3-15) improved its number of overall wins for the third-consecutive season last year.
Portland head coach Cheryl Sorenson returns for her fifth year at the helm of the program, and is joined on her staff by assistants Steve Lowe, Skylar Young, and Tiffany Gibson. Young and Gibson are in their first years as assistant coaches with the Pilots, as is new director of operations Alex Brown.
The Pilots return the bulk of their roster from last year, which includes 10 players and redshirt freshman Erika Kankfelt. The Pilots also feature their top three scorers from a year ago in senior guard Darian Slaga, senior forward Julie Spencer, and junior guard Kate Andersen. Slaga and Spencer both averaged double digits in scoring in 2017-18, putting up 12.6 and 11.0 points per contest, respectively. Spencer was also Portland's leading rebounder at 6.9 boards per game.
New to The Bluff are four freshmen as Elena Alaix (Madrid, Spain), Haylee Andrews (Townsville, Australia), Liana Kaitu'u (Salt Lake City, Utah), and Shasta Parker (Novato, Calif.) are in their first year with the Pilots.
Portland opens the regular season on the road, traveling to Utah Valley for a game against the Wolverines on Saturday, Nov. 10. Portland's home opener is set for Nov. 24 against Cal State Northridge, and the Pilots will face Puget Sound in an exhibition game on Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Chiles Center.
The preseason poll and All-WCC team were selected solely by a vote of the conference's 10 head coaches.
2018-19 WEST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL
Team (First Place Votes), Points
1. Gonzaga (7), 79
2. Saint Mary's (2), 73
3. BYU (1), 66
4. Loyola Marymount, 52
5. San Diego, 49
6. Santa Clara, 35
7. Pacific, 32
8. San Francisco, 31
9. Pepperdine, 24
10. Portland, 9
2018-19 ALL-WCC PRESEASON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM
Name, Institution, Yr., Pos.
Brenna Chase, BYU, Jr., G
Gabby Green, Loyola Marymount, Sr., G
Sara Hamson, BYU, So., C
Megan McKay, Saint Mary's, Sr., F
Myah Pace, San Diego, So., G
Sydney Raggio, Saint Mary's, Sr., F
Zykera Rice, Gonzaga, Sr., F
Yasmine Robinson-Bacote, Pepperdine, Sr., F
Chandler Smith, Gonzaga, Sr., G
Laura Stockton, Gonzaga, Sr., G
