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 The 2016 West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament was held March 3–8, 2016, at Orleans Arena in the Las Vegas Valley community of Paradise, Nevada. Seeds will be determined solely on conference record. San Francisco won the conferen ...

at the

Orleans Arena Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the The Orleans, Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming, Boyd Gaming Corporation. ...

March 3–8, 2016 in

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the ...

. The regular season started in November, with the conference schedule starting at the end of December. 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 Spectrum SportsNet, formerly Time Warner Cable SportsNet (abbreviated as TWC SportsNet), is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May ...

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 Gonzaga may refer to: Places *Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy *Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily Surname *House of Gonza ...

(6), 78 :2. BYU (4), 76 :3. Saint Mary's, 61 :4.

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, 58 :5.

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, 51 :6.

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

, 40 :7. Santa Clara, 30 :8.

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

, 25 :9. Pepperdine, 20 :10.

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, 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

*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.

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.

Conference tournament

* March 3–8, 2016– West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament,

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. :

Jeff Judkins Jeff Reed Judkins (born March 27, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He coached the Brigham Young University (BYU) BYU Cougars women's basketball, Cougars women's basketball team from 2001 to 2022, after serving ...

, BYU :

Lisa Mispley Fortier Lisa Mispley Fortier (born April 5, 1981) is an American basketball coach, currently the head coach of the women's basketball team at Gonzaga University. Early life and education Fortier, born Lisa Mispley, is the oldest of three children to Bi ...

, Gonzaga :

Charity Elliott Charity Dawn Elliott (née Shira; born November 11, 1969) is an American basketball coach currently serving as the head women's basketball coach at Point Loma Nazarene University. She was the women's basketball team head coach at Loyola Marymount ...

, Loyola Marymount : Bradley Davis, Pacific :

Ryan Weisenberg Ryan Weisenberg (born January 21, 1975) is an American basketball coach who was the head coach of the Pepperdine Waves women's basketball team from 2012 to 2017. Biography Weisenberg attended St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge, C ...

, Pepperdine :

Cheryl Sorensen Cheryl Elaine Sorenson (born March 18, 1980) was the women's basketball head coach for the Portland Pilots. In March 2019, Sorenson and the University of Portland parted ways. Early life Sorenson was born to Linda and Charles Sorenson in Portla ...

, Portland : Paul Thomas, Saint Mary's : Cindy Fisher, San Diego :

Jennifer Azzi Jennifer Lynn Azzi ( ; born August 31, 1968), is an American business development officer and former basketball player and coach. Since 2021, she has been the chief business development officer for the Las Vegas Aces. Azzi played collegiate bask ...

, San Francisco :

JR Payne Ali-Marie "JR" Payne (born May 27, 1977) is an American college basketball coach who is currently head women's coach at Colorado. Early life and education Ali-Marie Payne was born in the American city of Jackson, Tennessee and raised in the Can ...

, Santa Clara

Postseason

NCAA tournament

WNIT

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

College Madness WCC player of the Week Awards are given every Sunday. * Nov. 15- Maya Hood, F, San Diego * Nov. 29- Morgan McGwire, F, Santa Clara (also High Major Player of the Week) * Dec. 13- Malina Hood, F, San Diego (also High Major Player of the Week) * Dec. 27- Lori Parkinson, F, Santa Clara * Jan. 10- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU * Jan. 24- Malina Hood, G, San Diego * Feb. 7- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU * Feb. 21- Marie Bertholdt, F, Santa Clara * Nov. 22- Malina Hood, F, San Diego * Dec. 6- Taylor Proctor, F, San Francisco * Dec. 20- Lauren Nicholson, G, Saint Mary's * Jan. 3- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU * Jan. 17- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU * Jan. 31- Lexi Rydalch, G, BYU (also High Major Player of the Week) * Feb. 14- Erica Ogwumike, G, Pepperdine * Feb. 28- 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.

Pre-season

2015–16 West Coast Women's Basketball Media Poll

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

College Sports Madness Preseason All-West Conference Team

Rankings

Non-Conference games

Conference games

Composite Matrix

Conference tournament

Head coaches

Postseason

NCAA tournament

WNIT

WBI

Awards and honors

WCC Player-of-the-Week

College Madness West Coast Player of the Week

All West Coast Conference teams

All-Conference First team

All-Conference Second team

Honorable mention

All-Freshman team

All-Academic team

All-Academic Honorable Mention

See also

References