Women’s NCAA Tournament Second Round Preview: Gonzaga vs. Oregon State

Gonzaga (25-7) vs. Oregon State (27-4)

When: Sunday, March 22, at 4pm Pacific

TV: ESPN2

Radio: The Key 1050 AM (Spokane, WA)

Meet the Teams

Gonzaga

#11 seed Gonzaga easily defeated #6 seed George Washington University on Friday in an upset, giving the ladies great momentum going into this game against the Beavers.

March 9, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Keani Albanez (24) shoots the basketball against Brigham Young Cougars guard Makenzi Morrison (23) during the first half in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

With the game site in Corvallis, it will be a home game for Oregon State though the Gonzaga faithful will be there in force to support their team. Funny how a home court advantage doesn’t spark a major controversy in the women’s tournament games in the same way it does in the men’s tournament games (the Dayton/Boise State matchup in Dayton, Ohio for example).  The pundit base and fan base for the women’s games are quietly grateful for these small gestures of true regionalism.

Keani Albanez, Sunny Greinacher and Elle Tinkle played well against GW on Friday putting up solid numbers. The Zags had one game against a Pac-12 team this season, losing by 1 point to Washington State in December. WSU went on to finish 7th in the Pac-12 conference regular season and lost in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 conference tournament.

If Gonzaga wins this game, they will get to play in Spokane for the next round of games in the Spokane region and you can bet the arena will be filled with cheering fans. That is the genius of the Women’s NCAA Selection committee.

Oregon State University

The #3 seed in the Spokane region, the Beavers defeated South Dakota State 74-62 in their game on Friday.

Finishing 1st in the Pac-12 conference but exiting the Pac-12 Tournament in the quarterfinals, Oregon State was an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, just like Gonzaga. The Beavers are on a 22 game home winning streak and have lost only one game at home this year.

More from 2015 NCAA Tournament

• Looking Back on Gonzaga’s Season
• West Coast Convo Bracketology Competition Results
• Playing “What if….?” With Gonzaga and the NCAA Tournament
• West Coast Convo Writers Bracketology Competition Update
• NCAA Elite Eight Recap: Gonzaga Ends Historic Season Against Duke

Ali Gibson and Jamie Weisnar are prolific scorers, both reaching 1,000 career points. Oregon State has a very tough defense, regularly holding their opponents to shooting less than 40% and sometimes even below 30%.

Ruth Hamblin, affectionately known as “The Canadian Hammer”, garnered All Pac-12 honors and was the media selection for Pac-12 Player of the Year. Her specialty is blocking shots, and she typically blocks an average of 4 shots per game.

Junior Sydney Weise is a three point shooting specialist, hitting 200 career three pointers. She finished the game against South Dakota State on Friday with 23 points.

Head Coach Scott Rueck, the Pac-12 Coach of the Year will be in charge of getting his team in position to make the trip to Spokane to continue the forward momentum in the tournament.