Oct. 23—LAS VEGAS — It’s going to be a new season in more ways than one in West Coast Conference women’s basketball.
WCC coaches found it challenging to pick their preseason team. The conference was hit hard by graduation, forcing coaches to surf the internet to find evidence to justify their preseason picks, which were announced Thursday at WCC Media Day at Resorts World in Las Vegas.
Advertisement
Just one All-WCC First Team selection returns in Gonzaga sophomore point guard Allie Turner, the Freshman of the Year last season. Washington State junior guard Eleonora Villa is the only other returner. She was a Second Team pick a year ago.
Turner and Villa were both selected to the preseason team. Joining Turner from Gonzaga on the team is Zeryhia Aokuso, a junior transfer guard from Saint Mary’s. Villa was WSU’s lone preseason pick.
Oregon State had the most selections — senior guards Tiara Bolden and Catarina Ferreira and junior Tiara Bolden. Ferreira suffered a season-ending knee injury earlier this month.
Each WCC coach brought at least two players to feature during Media Day. Making the trip for Gonzaga was Turner and senior guard Ines Bettencourt.
Advertisement
Accompanying Washington State coach Kamie Ethridge was Villa and junior center Alex Covill.
Another 20 or more players could have been featured Thursday in a conference chalk full of mystery.
Just who will emerge as a candidate for WCC Player of the Year remains to be seen. For the last three years, a Gonzaga player has had players earn the POY honor.
Yvonne Ejim, who rewrote Gonzaga’s record book, was selected for a second straight season last year. Kaylynne Truong started the run in 2022-23.
Gonzaga has had six players named POY under coach Lisa Fortier, who is beginning her 12th season. Fortier has been named Coach of the Year seven times.
Advertisement
“When I was voting for the (preseason) team, there were a lot of players I didn’t know,” Fortier said. “Every coach I’ve talked to has seven or eight new players … that’s kind of the way that things are in college athletics right now. Either they’re incoming freshmen or they’re transfers.”
Rounding out the preseason team were: Dyani Ananiev (Portland), Sophie Glancey (Santa Clara), Maya Hernandez (Loyola Marymount) and Maia Jones (Santa Clara).
