Pac-12 women: Oregon, UCLA strongest in conference.
In the past few years, the Pac-12 has become the top women’s basketball conference in the country. It has had a team in the Final Four in all but one of the past 10 years.
Stanford made it seven of those years, including last season, and two seasons ago, Oregon State and Washington reached the national semifinals. The 2016-17 Big Dance had a record seven teams from the Pac-12.
Going into this year’s conference play, Oregon and UCLA look like the teams to beat, followed by Stanford and Oregon State.
Sabrina Ionescu, the Ducks’ sophomore point guard from MiramonteOrinda, has been filling up the stat sheets and appears to be a worthy successor to Washington’s Kelsey Plum as the conference’s top player.
Just 44 games into her career, Ionescu set a Pac-12 record (previously held by Stanford alum Nicole Powell) and tied an NCAA mark with her seventh career triple-double.
Here’s a look at the non-Bay Area teams, listed in alphabetical order: Arizona (4-7) — Sam Thomas, a 6foot freshman, leads the Pac-12 in rebounding (9 per game). JaLea Bennett (16.5) is the team’s top scorer. Freshman guard Marlee Kyles, who had a 50-point game in high school in Illinois, has chipped in 10.6. The Wildcats’ future looks bright. Second-year head coach Adia Barnes’ 2018 class includes three five-star prospects: forward Cate Reese, 6-5 center Semaj Smith and Italian forward Valeria Trucco. Arizona State (9-3) — The Sun Devils dropped out of the Top 25 after losing to No. 7 Mississippi State and Wisconsin-Green Bay in late November. Sophomore Jamie Ruden (10.5), who missed the whole Pac-12 schedule last season with a foot injury, has supplemented the scoring of Kianna Ibis (12.1) and Sabrina Haines (10.2). UConn transfer Courtney Ekmark tied a school record with seven three-pointers in a 46-point rout of Arkansas. Colorado (9-2) — Kennedy Leonard leads the Buffs with 15.5 points per game, and 6-3 freshman Annika Jank is getting 13.7 points and 8 rebounds. Salesian-Richmond alum Zoe Correal, a 6-4 center who lost her starting spot this season, is averaging 5.5 points and 4.2 rebounds. The Buffs have fattened up on five Division III schools. Oregon (11-2) — The 10th-ranked Ducks, averaging 88.8 points a game, are getting great contributions from Ruthy Hebard (15.9 points, 8.5 rebounds), Maite Cazorla (10, 5.7 assists) and Lexi Bando (10.1) besides the redoubtable Ionescu (18 points, 6.7 rebounds, 7.9 assists). They have lost only to No. 9 Louisville and No. 5 Mississippi State and have beaten No. 19 Texas A&M twice. Satou Sabally (12.4 points), a 6-4 freshman from Germany, recently joined the starting lineup. Oregon State (9-2) — The 17th-ranked Beavers are third in the nation in fieldgoal percentage (52) and are first in three-point shooting (43.4). They have lost only to No. 5 Notre Dame (by five) and No. 16 Duke (by seven). Freshman Aleah Goodman is second nationally in three-point percentage (54.1). Marie Gulich, a 6-5 senior from Germany, is averaging 15.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and a conference-leading 3.1 blocks. UCLA (9-2) — After putting up a school-record 129 points on San Jose State in the opener, the 11th-ranked Bruins have struggled at times with offensive inconsistency. They were up to No. 5 after a convincing win over No. 3 Baylor, but dropped after losing to unranked Oklahoma State by 15. Lots of talent here, thanks to having one of the nation’s top recruiting classes each of the past two years. Jordin Canada (14.3 points, 6.5 assists) is the team’s leader, Monique Billings the leading scorer (14.8) and rebounder (8.7). USC (10-1) — Kristen Simon is scoring a conference-best 18.5 points per game. Mark Trakh is back for his second go-round as the Trojans’ head coach after spending three successful years at New Mexico State, taking the team to the NCAA Tournament each year. He replaced Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, who led the Trojans to the Pac-12 tournament title in 2014 but whose last three teams didn’t finish better than seventh. Utah (9-2) — After losing to Alabama, the Utes won six straight before falling to BYU. Canadian senior Emily Potter (13.5 points, 8 rebounds) and redshirt junior Megan Huff (13.4, 8) are formidable up front, and Erika Bean is dealing 5.8 assists a game. Potter, who is 6-6, moonlights as a sportswriter for the student newspaper. Utah has the fourth-highest-scoring team in the Pac-12 (77.7) and the third-stingiest defense (56.6). Washington (6-5) — Under first-year head coach Jody Wynn, the Huskies have played a schedule almost as tough as Stanford’s, and like the Cardinal, they’ve taken their lumps. Sophomores Amber Melgoza (15.4) and Mai-Loni Henson (11.5) lead the scoring. Kierra Collier, a 5-6 freshman guard, adds 8.6. Jenna Moser, the only player to start in every game, has 21 steals. Washington State (7-5) — Borislava Hristova, a 6-foot forward from Bulgaria, is the conference’s fourth-leading scorer (16.9). Louise Brown, a 6-3 Australian who missed most of last season with a foot injury, closed nonconference play with a double-double in a win at Nebraska. The Cougars, who have five other foreign players, have won six of their past seven.