2015–16 West Coast Conference women's basketball season

2015–16 West Coast Conference women's basketball season
2015–16 West Coast Conference women's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Women's basketball
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	National: ESPNU, BYUtv, TheW.tv; Regional: SWX, CSNNW
Regular season
Season champions	BYU
Season MVP	Lexi Rydalch, BYU
Tournament
Basketball seasons
	← 14–15 16–17 →

The 2015–16 West Coast Conference women's basketball season began with practices in October 2015 and ended with the 2016 West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena March 3–8, 2016 in Paradise, Nevada. The regular season started in November, with the conference schedule starting at the end of December.

2015–16 West Coast Conference women's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
BYU	16	–	2	.889	26	–	7	.788
Saint Mary's	14	–	4	.778	24	–	8	.750
San Diego	13	–	5	.722	24	–	8	.750
Santa Clara	13	–	5	.722	23	–	9	.719
Gonzaga	10	–	8	.556	19	–	14	.576
San Francisco †	9	–	9	.500	21	–	12	.636
Pacific	6	–	12	.333	13	–	17	.433
Loyola Marymount	6	–	12	.333	11	–	20	.355
Pepperdine	2	–	16	.111	7	–	24	.226
Portland	1	–	17	.056	3	–	27	.100

† Tournament winner As of March 22, 2016 Rankings from AP poll

This was the 31st 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 27th 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).

Pre-season

Pre-season media day took place in October at the Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes Studios. Video interviews will be hosted on the WCC's streaming video outlet, TheW.tv, beginning at 11:30 AM PDT. Jeff Lampe of WCC Live interviewed each coach and got a preview of their respective season. The regional television schedule announcement, the Pre-season Conference team, and the pre-season coaches rankings were some of the additional events that took place.

2015–16 West Coast Women's Basketball Media Poll

Rank, School (first-place votes), Points

1. Gonzaga (6), 78

2. BYU (4), 76

3. Saint Mary's, 61

4. San Diego, 58

5. San Francisco, 51

6. Pacific, 40

7. Santa Clara, 30

8. Loyola Marymount, 25

9. Pepperdine, 20

10. Portland, 11

2015–16 West Coast Women's Preseason All-West Conference Team

Player, School, Yr., Pos.

Kylie Maeda, BYU, Sr., G

Lexi Eaton Rydalch, BYU, Sr., F

Shelby Cheslek, Gonzaga, Sr., C

Ellie Tinkle, Gonzaga, Sr., G

Sophie Taylor, Loyola Marymount, Sr., F

Hailie Eackles, Pacific, Sr., G

Shannon Mauldin, Saint Mary's, Sr., G

Lauren Nicholson, Saint Mary's, Sr., G

Malina Hood, San Diego, Sr., F

Taylor Proctor, San Francisco, Sr., F

College Sports Madness Preseason All-West Conference Team

^[1]

Coach of the Year- Lisa Fortier, Gonzaga
Player of the Year- Lexi Rydalch, BYU
Freshman of the Year- Andee Velsaco, Loyola Marymount

First Team

Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU
Lauren Nicholson, G, Saint Mary's
Malina Hood, G, San Diego
Elle Tinkle, G/F, Gonzaga
Taylor Proctor, F/C, San Francisco

Second Team

Hailie Eackles, G, Pacific
Shannon Mauldin, G, Saint Mary's
Zhane Dikes, G, San Francisco
Leslie Lopez-Wood, G/F, Loyola Marymount
Shelby Cheslek, F/C, Gonzaga

Rankings

The AP Poll does not do a post-season rankings. As a result, their last rankings are Week 19. The Coaches Poll does a post-season poll and the end of the NCAA Tournament.

**Legend**
		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll

		Pre/ Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17
BYU	AP				RV			RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
BYU	C	RV	RV		RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	RV
Gonzaga	AP	RV
Gonzaga	C	RV	RV	RV
Loyola Marymount	AP
Loyola Marymount	C
Pacific	AP
Pacific	C
Pepperdine	AP
Pepperdine	C
Portland	AP
Portland	C
Saint Mary's	AP
Saint Mary's	C
San Diego	AP							RV	RV	RV
San Diego	C								RV	RV	RV
San Francisco	AP
San Francisco	C
Santa Clara	AP
Santa Clara	C

Non-Conference games

BYU defeated #12/11 Texas A&M 72–64 to win the Tom Weston Invitational.

Conference games

Composite Matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

	BYU	Gonzaga	LMU	Pacific	Pepperdine	Portland	Saint Mary's	San Diego	San Francisco	Santa Clara
vs. Brigham Young	-	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2
vs. Gonzaga	1–1	–	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1
vs. Loyola Marymount	2–0	2–0	–	0–2	0–2	0–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. Pacific	2–0	1–1	2–0	-	0–2	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0
vs. Pepperdine	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	-	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. Portland	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	-	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. Saint Mary's	2–0	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	-	0–2	0–2	1–1
vs. San Diego	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	2–0	-	1–1	1–1
vs. San Francisco	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–1	-	2–0
vs. Santa Clara	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	-
Total	16–2	10–8	6–12	6–12	2–16	1–17	14–4	13–5	9–9	13–5

Conference tournament

March 3–8, 2016– West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament, Orleans Arena, Paradise, Nevada.

First round			Quarterfinals			Semifinals			Championship

			1	BYU	72

			9	Pepperdine	59
8	Pacific	72

9	Pepperdine	81
						1	BYU	87

						4	Santa Clara	67



			4	Santa Clara	59

			5	Gonzaga	58



									1	BYU

									6	San Francisco



			2	Saint Mary's	85

			7	Loyola Marymount	71
7	Loyola Marymount	85

10	Portland	72
						2	Saint Mary's	65

						6	San Francisco	67



			3	San Diego	80

			6	San Francisco	84^OT

Head coaches

The 2015–16 season sees one new face in the WCC. Lynne Roberts left Pacific to become the new head coach at Utah.^[2]

Jeff Judkins, BYU

Lisa Mispley Fortier, Gonzaga

Charity Elliott, Loyola Marymount

Bradley Davis, Pacific

Ryan Weisenberg, Pepperdine

Cheryl Sorensen, Portland

Paul Thomas, Saint Mary's

Cindy Fisher, San Diego

Jennifer Azzi, San Francisco

JR Payne, Santa Clara

Postseason

NCAA tournament

Seed	Bracket	School	First round	Second round	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Final Four	Championship

# Bids	W-L (%):	TOTAL: 0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –

WNIT

School	First round	Second round	Third round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship

# Bids W-L (%) TOTAL: 0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –

WBI

Awards and honors

WCC Player-of-the-Week

The WCC player of the week awards are given each Monday.

Nov. 16- Sydney Raggio, F, Saint Mary's
Nov. 30- GeAnna Luaulu-Summers, G, Pacific & Morgan McGwire, F, Santa Clara
Dec. 14- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU
Dec. 28- Maya Hood, F, San Diego
Jan. 11- Kalani Purcell, F, BYU
Jan. 25- Kalani Purcell, F, BYU
Feb. 8- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU
Feb. 22- Marie Bertholdt, F, Santa Clara
Nov. 23- Malina Hood, G, San Diego
Dec. 7- Lauren Nicholson, G, Saint Mary's
Dec. 21- Ameela Li, G, Pacific
Jan. 4- Georgia Stirton, Gonzaga
Jan. 18- Kalani Purcell, F, BYU
Feb. 1- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU
Feb. 15- Taylor Proctor, F, San Francisco
Feb. 29- Lauren Nicholson, G, Saint Mary's

College Madness West Coast Player of the Week

^[3]

College Madness WCC player of the Week Awards are given every Sunday.

Nov. 15^[4]- Maya Hood, F, San Diego
Nov. 29^[5]- Morgan McGwire, F, Santa Clara (also High Major Player of the Week)
Dec. 13^[6]- Malina Hood, F, San Diego (also High Major Player of the Week)
Dec. 27^[7]- Lori Parkinson, F, Santa Clara
Jan. 10^[8]- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU
Jan. 24^[9]- Malina Hood, G, San Diego
Feb. 7^[10]- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU
Feb. 21^[11]- Marie Bertholdt, F, Santa Clara
Nov. 22^[12]- Malina Hood, F, San Diego
Dec. 6^[13]- Taylor Proctor, F, San Francisco
Dec. 20^[14]- Lauren Nicholson, G, Saint Mary's
Jan. 3^[15]- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU
Jan. 17^[16]- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU
Jan. 31^[17]- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU (also High Major Player of the Week)
Feb. 14^[18]- Erica Ogwumike, G, Pepperdine
Feb. 28^[19]- Maya Hood, F, San Diego

All West Coast Conference teams

Voting was by conference coaches:

Player of The Year: Lexi Rydalch, BYU
Newcomer of The Year: Kalani Purcell, BYU
Defensive Player of The Year: Maya Hood, San Diego
Coach of The Year: Jeff Judkins, BYU

College Sports Madness Selections

To be posted after the WCC Tournament.

All-Conference First team

Name	School	Pos.	Year
Jill Barta	Gonzaga	F	R-Freshman
Marie Bertholdt	Santa Clara	F	Junior
Hailie Eackles	Pacific	G	Senior
Malina Hood	San Diego	G	Senior
Lauren Nicholson	Saint Mary's	G	Senior
Erica Ogwumike	Pepperdine	G	Freshman
Lori Parkinson	Santa Clara	F	Junior
Taylor Proctor	San Francisco	F	Senior
Kalani Purcell	BYU	F	Junior
Lexi Rydalch	BYU	G	Senior