WCC roundup
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* No. 9 Pacific 89, No. 8 Pepperdine 84 — Ray Bowles scored 26 points and the Tigers (1121, 4-14) shot 53 percent from the floor to advance to the quarterfinals.
* No. 10 Portland 60, No. 7 San Diego 55 — Jazz Johnson scored 17 points, the Pilots held the Toreros to 11-for-33 shooting from beyond the arc and Portland (11-21, 2-16) recorded an upset to head to the quarterfinals. WOMEN
* No. 1 Gonzaga 91, No. 9 Pacific 59 — Jill Barta scored 23 points and the Bulldogs (24-6, 14-4) outscored the Tigers 38-14 in the paint and won the rebounding battle 49-28 to reach the semifinals.
* No. 2 Brigham Young 75, No. 7 San Diego 66, OT — WCC Player of the Year Cassie Broadhead made a game-tying 3-pointer with 9.8 seconds left in regulation, and the Cougars (20-10) outscored the Toreros 16-7 in overtime to advance to the semifinals. many of his future teammates in Australia despite the country being about three-quarters the area of the United States. While the basketball community there is still relatively small, Naar described it as “tight-knit.”
”It’s never been the biggest sport over there, we have Aussie rules football and rugby, but I think it’s on the rise,” Naar said. “People are seeing that it’s a great experience to come over here to play college, so that’s what more people are trying to do now.” The pipeline continues in part because of the comfort level recruits get when they see players from their own country on their visits to the school in Moraga, California.
Playing at Saint Mary’s has led to plenty of success for Landale and Naar, who have kept the Gaels in the Associated Press Top 25 poll every week this season for the first time in school history. Landale was one of the team’s three All-WCC first-team selections, while Naar is its top shooter from 3-point range (44.4 percent).
Fellow Aussies Dane Pineau, Tanner Krebs and Kyle Clark are key reserves and have contributed to a defense that ranks second nationally at 56.1 points allowed per game.
The reasons for the defensive success: hard work, preparation and probably just a little bit of Australian grit.
“We have confidence that the numbers show we can defend the ball really well,” Landale said. “Given the position we’ve been in, being ranked the entire season, I think everyone’s pretty happy. We’re comfortable going into the postseason.” Contact reporter Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.