2011–12 West Coast Conference women's basketball season explained

2011–12 West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Season
Color:	9B1743
Color Text:	FFFFFF
League:	NCAA Division I
Sport:	Basketball
Sex:	women
Pixels:	120px
No Of Teams:	9
Tv:	ESPNU, BYUtv, SWX, CBSSN
Season:	Regular Season
Season Champs:	Gonzaga
Second Place:	BYU
Mvp:	Kristen Riley, BYU
Mvp Link:	West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year
Finals:	Tournament
Finals Link:	2012 West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament
Finals Champ:	BYU
Finals Runner-Up:	Gonzaga
Finals Mvp:	Haley Steed, BYU
Finals Mvp Link:	Most Valuable Player
Seasonslistnames:	Basketball
Prevseason Link:	2010–11 West Coast Conference women's basketball season
Prevseason Year:	10–11
Nextseason Link:	2012–13 West Coast Conference women's basketball season
Nextseason Year:	12–13

The 2011–12 West Coast Conference women's basketball season began with practices in October 2011 and ended with the 2012 West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament from February 29- March 5, 2012 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The regular season began on the weekend of November 11, with the conference schedule starting on December 29.

This was the 27th season for WCC women's basketball, which began in the 1985–86 season when the league was known as the West Coast Athletic Conference (WCAC). It was also the 22nd season under the West Coast Conference name (the conference began as the California Basketball Association in 1952, became the WCAC in 1956, and dropped the word "Athletic" in 1989). In July 2011, a new faith based, private school joined the conference. BYU came from the Mountain West, marking the WCC's first change in membership since 1980.^[1] ^[2]

Pre-season

Pre-season media day was held on October 27, 2011, at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California.
2011–12 West Coast Women's Basketball Media Poll:

Rank, School (first-place votes), Points

1. Gonzaga University (8), 64

2. Brigham Young University (1), 52

3. Pepperdine University, 50

4. Loyola Marymount University, 36

5. Saint Mary's College, 34

6. University of Portland, 32

7. University of San Diego, 26

8. Santa Clara University, 22

9. University of San Francisco, 8

2011–12 West Coast Women's Preseason All-West Conference Team:

Player, School, Yr., Pos.

Dominique Conners, USD, Sr., G

Alex Cowling, Loyola Marymount, RS-Jr., G/F

Natalie Day, Portland, Sr.., G/F

Jazmine Jackson, Pepperdine, Sr., G

Katelan Redmon, Gonzaga, Sr., G/F

Kristen Riley, Brigham Young University, Sr., F

Alyssa Shoji, Santa Clara, Sr., G

Jasmine Smith, Saint Mary's, RS-Sr., G

Kayla Standish, Gonzaga, Sr., F

ReZina TecleMariam, Portland, Sr., G

Rankings

See main article: 2011–12 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings.

**Legend**
	Improvement in ranking
	Drop in ranking
align=center style="width:20px; border:1px solid #aaaaaa; background:white;"	RV	Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
т	Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

	Pre/ Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Wk 19	Final
BYU	AP					RV	RV	RV			RV	23	22	RV	23	RV				RV
C							RV				RV	RV	RV	RV
Gonzaga	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	23	RV	22	20	19	RV	25	22	23	23	RV
C	RV	RV	24	RV	25	24	24	24	22	25	20	19	18	23	21	20	24	24	24
Loyola Marymount	AP
C
Pepperdine	AP
C
Portland	AP
C
Saint Mary's	AP										RV	RV
C
San Diego	AP
C
San Francisco	AP
C
Santa Clara	AP
C

Non-Conference games

BYU would lose to #8 Duke 61–55 on November 11, 2011.

Conference games

2 Conference Games would be shown nationally on CBS Sports Network- Portland at San Diego on January 19, 2012, and Loyola Marymount at Gonzaga on January 26, 2012.
BYUtv would show all home BYU games except for the Saint Mary's game on February 4, 2012.
SWX Right Now would show all Gonzaga home games except for the game shown nationally on CBS Sports Network.
In Week 11 the WCC had two teams rank in the Top 25 for the first time in the conference's history with BYU and Gonzaga both claiming Top 25 spots.

Composite Matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. (x) indicates games remaining this season.

	BYU	Gonzaga	LMU	Pepperdine	Portland	Saint Mary's	San Diego	San Francisco	Santa Clara
GON	LMU	PEPP	PORT	SMC	USD	USF	USC -->	vs. Brigham Young	–	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2
vs. Gonzaga	1–1	–	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2
vs. Loyola Marymount	2–0	2–0	–	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1
vs. Pepperdine	1–1	2–0	0–2	–	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	0–2
vs. Portland	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	–	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–0
vs. Saint Mary's	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	–	2–0	1–1	0–2
vs. San Diego	2–0	2–0	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	–	0–2	0–2
vs. San Francisco	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	–	2–0
vs. Santa Clara	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–0	0–2	–	GON	LMU	PEPP	PORT	SMC	USD	USF	USC -->
Total	12–4	14–2	3–13	8–8	4–12	11–5	12–4	3–13	5–11

Conference tournament

See main article: 2012 West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament.

February 29- March 5, 2012 – West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament, Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV.

Head coaches

Jeff Judkins, BYU

Kelly Graves, Gonzaga

Julie Wilhoit, Loyola Marymount

Julie Rousseau, Pepperdine

Jim Sollars, Portland

Paul Thomas, Saint Mary's

Cindy Fisher, San Diego

Jennifer Azzi, San Francisco

Jennifer Mountain, Santa Clara

Post-season

NCAA tournament

Gonzaga was an 11-seed. They advanced to the Sweet Sixteen after winning the 1st and 2nd Round games on their home court.
BYU was a 10-seed. They lost in the first round against DePaul on the DePaul men's team home court.

WNIT

San Diego was granted the WCC's automatic bid to the WNIT after Gonzaga was taken as an at large team. They played into the semifinals on the WNIT before they were finally defeated at Oklahoma State. USD won 2 road games to make the semifinals of the WNIT- at Texas Tech in the regional semi's and then at Washington in the regional final.
Saint Mary's was taken as an at-large selection. They defeated UNLV in the first round before losing at Oregon State. Oregon State would lose in the next round to Washington who was eliminated by fellow WCC school San Diego in the quarterfinals.

WBI

No WCC school qualified for the WBI.

Awards and honors

Primetime Performers Honor Roll by Collegesports360.com

Haiden Palmer, Gonzaga, Week of Dec 19-25
Alex Carbonel, Saint Mary's, Week of Jan 9-15
Taelor Karr, Gonzaga, Week of Jan 23-29
Jennifer Hamson, BYU, Week of Feb 6-12

Player-of-the-Week

Nov. 14 – Natalie Day, Portland
Nov. 28 – Natalie Day, Portland
Dec. 12 – Alex Cowling, Loyola Marymount
Dec. 26 – Jasmine Smith, Saint Mary's
Jan. 9 – Dominique Conners, San Diego
Jan. 23 – Katelan Redmon, Gonzaga
Feb. 6 – Lauren Bell, Pepperdine
Feb. 20 – Kelly Bowen, Gonzaga
Nov. 21 – Natalie Day, Portland
Dec. 5 – Kim Parker, BYU
Dec. 19 – Haiden Palmer, Gonzaga
Jan. 2 – Morgan Woodrow, San Diego
Jan. 16 – Alex Carbonel, Saint Mary's
Jan. 30 – Kristen Riley, BYU
Feb. 13 – Kim Parker, BYU
Feb. 27 – Katelan Redmon, Gonzaga

Player-of-the-Month

November – Natalie Day, Portland
December – Alex Cowling, Loyola Marymount
January – Kristen Riley, BYU
February – Kristen Riley, BYU

All West Coast Conference teams

Voting was by conference coaches:

Player of The Year: Kristen Riley, BYU
Co-Newcomer of The Year: Lexi Eaton, BYU
Co-Newcomer of the Year: Haiden Palmer, Gonzaga
Defensive Player of The Year: Jazmine Jackson, Pepperdine
Coach of The Year: Cindy Fisher, San Diego

All Academic team

Notes and References

Web site: West Coast Conference Information . 2023-12-24 . BYU Athletics - Official Athletics Website - BYU Cougars . en-US.
Web site: 2011-07-01 . BYU Becomes Ninth Member of West Coast Conference . 2023-12-24 . wccsports.com . en.