Last season's squad started out 2024 with dominant result after dominant result, earning the honor of hosting the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament at The Kennel for the first time ever, and making a run to the Sweet Sixteen. That team was as high-quality as any in Gonzaga women's hoops history.
The second half of 2024 was far from the same. After a tough start to the 2024-25 season, Gonzaga sat below .500 on New Year's Eve with just 7 wins through 15 games.
Fortunately for the Zags, things have started to turn around now that the calendar has flipped to 2025 and West Coast Conference play has begun. Gonzaga now boasts a 10-8 record on the season, and a 5-2 mark in the WCC. The team is riding a four game win streak that dates back to late December, including a pair of critical wins against Portland and Washington State — two of the teams the Zags find themselves tied with atop the league standings.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Gonzaga has been an established program in women’s basketball for nearly two decades now. Over the past 20 seasons, the Zags have missed the NCAA Tournament just three times. They've only missed out on making the Tourney once since 2009 (the lone blemish being 2016), with seven straight trips (which would've been eight if COVID didn't cancel the 2020 NCAAs).
But that streak is in jeopardy this season thanks to a poor showing prior to league play.
Power conference programs dominate the landscape on the men’s side, but the disparity between the haves and have nots is even more extreme for the women.
Gonzaga likely can not overcome the 5-6 record they compiled outside of league play to get an at-large big to the NCAA Tournament. A four game losing streak stretching from November into December probably killed any chance at that. Even worse, many of GU's losses thus far have been blowouts. Five of the eight have come by double-figures, with Stanford, California and Florida State all beating the Zags by 20+ points.
However, there were some clear indications that this campaign wouldn't be as smooth sailing as last season. The most noticeable area of change from last season is the personnel in the backcourt. With the Truong twins star point guard combo lost to graduation, the Zags are turning the ball over a whopping 18.7 times per game this season. That’s 5.4 more times than they did a season ago.
Gonzaga’s opponents thus far have done a good job converting those turnovers into points, which is bad news for the Zags. The Zags are averaging 68.4 points per game, but rank 268th in the country at scoring defense, allowing 68.2 points per game. Numbers that close are how you end up close to .500 midway through the season.
WHERE THEY GO NEXT
As of Monday, there is a five-way tie for first place in the WCC standings. Portland, WSU, Gonzaga, San Francisco and Saint Mary’s all sit at 5-2 in league play. Portland especially has been impressive this season, with a 16-2 record overall.
Of those two losses, one was to Gonzaga, and it came in Portland. The Zags also picked up a win on the road over the weekend at Washington State.
Simply put, two of the toughest road games on the Bulldogs' slate have resulted in wins. The Zags now just have to hold serve at home. That starts this Thursday when the Zags host Portland.
The Pilots rate as the top team in the WCC in the all-important NET rankings, which are used to help select and seed teams for the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, the Pilots come in at 75th in the nation. A Gonzaga win likely knocks the Pilots even lower, and 75th is the cutoff between Quadrant 2 and Quadrant 3 for wins at home.
That means even the best team Gonzaga has left on the schedule won’t measure as a great resume win. It might not even look like a good win come March.
Barring a dominant, undefeated run to the WCC Tournament final, an at-large berth is all but a pipe dream.
Which means the Zags likely have to beat the best teams in the conference and win the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas if they want to go dancing. They’ve shown to be mostly capable of that, but there's plenty of work left to be done.
Watching the Zags women will not be the high-octane ride it was a year ago, but the circumstances this season should make for an equally exciting run.
UP NEXT
Women
Gonzaga vs. Portland • Thu, Jan. 16 at 6 pm • SWX and ESPN+
Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount • Sat, Jan. 18 at 2 pm • ESPN+
Men
Gonzaga at Oregon State • Thu, Jan. 16 at 8 pm • CBS Sports Network
Gonzaga vs. Santa Clara • Sat, Jan. 18 at 6 pm • KHQ and ESPN+
