Best of the West: Power Rankings for the Week of Jan. 16
- Stanford (15-1, 6-0). The new entrants in the Pac-12 didn’t prove to be much of a challenge for the Cardinal, who blew through Utah and Colorado. Joslyn Tinkle is coming off of late and coach Tara VanDerveer is happy to have another scorer not named Ogwumike.
- Cal (13-5, 4-2). The Bears have righted the ship since the Pac-12 opening sweep in Los Angeles. Back to winning games they should win and out-rebounding pretty much everyone.
- Gonzaga (15-3, 4-1). A tough day at home against St. Mary’s results in the program’s first home loss since 2009. Kelly Graves is hoping it will “refocus” his team.
- USC (9-6, 4-1). The Women of Troy are figuring things out, winning four straight since losing to Stanford in the conference opener. The win snapped a four-game losing streak to UCLA in the Southern California rivalry game. Ashley Corral passed Cheryl Miller as the program’s all-time assists leader.
- Arizona State (11-5, 2-3). The Sun Devils barely snapped a three-game losing streak by defeating Oregon in Eugene. Next up are home games against Utah and Colorado.
- UCLA (7-9, 2-3). Injuries continue to plague this season. Freshman Moriah Faulk, who played in 15 games off the bench and provided perimeter scoring, injured her leg last week against Arizona State.
- St. Mary’s (14-5, 5-1). Following the lead of their men’s team, the Gaels posted their first win over Gonzaga since Paul Thomas took over as head coach, defeating the Zags in Spokane for the first time since 2002. Alex Carbonel making an early case for WCC Player of the Year.
- Fresno State (13-4, 1-0). Coach Adrian Wiggins won his 200th career game as a head coach and the Bulldogs are 7-0 in WAC season openers after defeating Nevada. FSU has won eight of nine.
- San Diego State (12-4, 2-0). The Aztecs have won eight straight, including this week’s overtime road win over UNLV, a battle between the top two teams in the Mountain West Conference this season. Courtney Clements has scored at least 20 points in five games this season.
- Washington State (9-8, 3-2). One of only four Pac-12 teams with a winning record in conference play thus far, the Cougars took a step backward by losing at home to the rival Huskies.
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