SALT LAKE CITY — BYU is predicted to finish behind Gonzaga in West Coast Conference women’s basketball this year, by a slim margin.
The Cougars received 75 points, including three first-place votes, and were picked as the runner-up by three votes to the Zags (78 points, seven first-place votes) in the league’s preseason coaches poll released Wednesday.
BYU beat Gonzaga three times last season, sweeping the Zags during the regular season then topping them again in the WCC tournament championship game.
Behind Gonzaga and BYU, Pacific (61 points) is predicted to finish third, with Saint Mary’s (59) and Santa Clara (40) fourth and fifth, respectively. Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine each received 39 points to tie for sixth, followed by San Diego (27), San Francisco (18) and Portland (14).
The Cougars also placed a league-high three players on the All-WCC preseason team, where senior guard Brenna Chase Drollinger is joined by junior center Sara Hamson and junior guard Paisley Johnson. Chase Drollinger and Hamson both earned preseason honors last year, while Johnson was the MVP of the 2019 WCC tournament.
BYU is coming off a 26-7 season where the Cougars went 15-3 in WCC regular-season play, won the conference tournament title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. The team will be without its leading scorer from last season, though, after Shaylee Gonzales underwent surgery in July for a torn ACL and lateral meniscus.