Chase, Hamson named to preseason team, BYU picked third in WCC poll

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LAS VEGAS — BYU women’s basketball was picked to finish third in the 2019 West Coast Conference race, while junior Brenna Chase and sophomore Sara Hamson make the preseason team, the league announced Wednesday.

The  WCC’s 10 head coaches voted on the preseason poll. Gonzaga was selected to win the league race. The Bulldogs received seven of 10 first place votes while also placing a league-high three student-athletes on the Preseason All-WCC team.

Gonzaga (27-6, 17-1) claimed 79 points to finish atop the preseason poll after recording back-to-back WCC titles in  2017 and 2018.

Saint Mary’s (20-11, 13-5) received two first place votes and was the preseason pick to finish second in the conference with 73 points. The Gaels were followed by BYU (16-4, 11-7) in third with 66 points and the final first-place vote.

Loyola Marymount (19-11, 11-7) and San Diego (17-15, 8-10) were picked fourth and fifth with 52 and 49 points, respectively. The Toreros advanced to the WCC Championship game last season in a strong run in Las Vegas as the sixth-seed.

Four points separated the sixth, seventh and eighth spots on the poll between Santa Clara, Pacific and San Francisco. The Broncos (9-21, 5-13) were selected sixth with 35 points with the Tigers (15-17, 7-11) finishing one point ahead of the Dons (16-15, 10-8) with a 32-to-31 point edge.

Pepperdine and Portland round out the preseason poll with the Waves collecting 24 points for ninth followed by the Pilots. Pepperdine (10-20, 5-13) earned their most points in the preseason poll since the 2012-13 season while Portland (7-23, 3-15) improved its number of overall wins for the third-consecutive season last year.

Six programs placed at least one student-athlete on the preseason All-West Coast Conference Team with Gonzaga’s trio of Zykera Rice, Chandler Smith and Laura Stockton leading the way. BYU and Saint Mary’s both added two representatives in Brenna Chase and Sara Hamson for the Cougars and Megan McKay and Sydney Raggio for the Gaels.  Chase was named to the WCC First Team last year and Hamson was the WCC Defensive Player of the year while leading the nation in blocks per game with a 4.3 average. Also earning Preseason All-Conference honors are Gabby Green of Loyola Marymount, Myah Pace of San Diego and Yasmine Robinson-Bacote of Pepperdine.

The preseason poll and All-WCC team were selected solely by a vote of the conference's 10 head coaches.

 West Coast Conference play begins on Saturday, December 29.