new developments happening for the Gonzaga Women
Last week, the WCC formally announced the 2024-2025 Women’s Basketball conference schedule. As I’m sure we’re all aware, the WCC has added former Pac-12 teams Washington State and Oregon State into the fold to bring the team count up to eleven.
Conference schedule is here ‼️ pic.twitter.com/v17wwy6ds6
— Gonzaga Women’s Basketball (@ZagWBB) August 6, 2024
Not included in the graphic above is the timing of the Conference Tournament, which will take place from March 6-11 and will be hosted again at the Orleans Arena in Vegas.
The addition of the Cougs and Beavs should inject some competition into the conference as both secured 20-win seasons that allowed them to finish the season ranked 33rd and 16th in the NET, respectively while also securing post-season appearances in the process.
OSU ended up grabbing the #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament where the made a run to the Elite 8 before falling to the eventual national champions, South Carolina. WSU was awarded a #1 seed in the inaugural WBIT where they reached the semifinals before their defeat to the eventual champions, University of Illinois by two points.
Both teams will be likely be weaker than the ‘23-24 season by virtue of transfers as Oregon State lost the 2nd ranked prospect, guard Reagan Beers, to Oklahoma, the 6th ranked prospect, forward Timea Gardiner, to UCLA, and the 10th ranked prospect, forward Talia von Oelhoffen, to USC while Washington State lost the 4th ranked prospect, guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, to UCLA. According to the rankings in the linked ESPN article above, neither school picked up a single ranked transfer to replace those losses.
In other news, back in July, Gonzaga announced the addition of two new staff members, Jazmine Redmon and Chantel Osahor. The former will take on the role of assistant coach and video coordinator and the later will step in as an assistant coach. They will replacing former staff members, Haiden Palmer, who’s future employer remains unknown, and Erika Bean, who moved south to Pepperdine where she will be an assistant coach.
Longtime Zag fans might recognize Jazmine Redmon’s name as she actually played for Gonzaga from 2010-14 during which time she helped the team win four West Coast Conference regular-season championships and three WCC tournament championships. In 2013, she was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and as a senior, she earned WCC honorable mention. She currently sits at 6th in GU’s all-time assist leaders (400) and steals (211).
After three years playing professionally overseas, Redmon started off at Mead High School as an assistant before moving on to become the head coach at University High school for three years followed by a year as the assistant coach and director of operations at Fresno State. In her lone college season, Redmon helped Fresno go from 10-22 (3-15) to 15-18 (7-11) and saw the offense average a little more than 5 points per game.
Fortier provided this quote, “We are really excited to bring Jazy back to Spokane and Gonzaga. She was a great player and leader for us, and understands our culture and what it takes to have continued success. I loved coaching her the 4 years she was here and am going to enjoy winning with her on a different level now.”
Followers of West Coast Women’s basketball may also know Chantel Osahor’s name as she played four years at UW from 2013-2017. She gained national acclaim after being named a 2017 All American selection with her amazing play that saw her average 15.8 points, 15.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists along with strong shooting efficiency, 53.4% from two and 37.2% from three. Additionally, she holds the school record for career rebounds (1253). After finishing college, Osahor was drafted by the Chicago Sky with the 21st overall pick, but never featured in a single W game after being cut in the preseason because of injuries.
Instead of trying to pursue a career overseas, Osahor opted to instead take the year off to consider her options before a surprise call from then-Drake head coach Jennie Barancyk and was offered a graduate assistant position. As this archived Seattle Times article tells it, “Osahor, who had always yearned to be a coach, jumped at the opportunity. Washington coach Mike Neighbors had always labeled her a cerebral player, and now she has a chance to show it.”
When looking into Osahor further, I think it’s safe to say that she has absolutely been showing as six years later, Osahor has served as an assistant coach at Drake, Arkansas, and, most recently Oklahoma. She’s had success at every stop with all three schools reaching the NCAA Tournament during her tenure, with the exception of the cancelled 2020 tournament, and more recently, oversaw the continued development of Oklahoma’s Skylar Vann, a two-time Big 12 Sixth Player of the Year, and Madi Williams, the 25th pick in this year’s WNBA draft and the school’s first in eleven years. These accomplishments haven’t gone unnoticed as she was selected to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s 30 Under 30 Class in 2023.
Fortier provided this quote, “We are also really looking forward to adding Chantel to our staff. She brings highly level experiences from outside of Gonzaga and has worked with some coaches I really admire. She has played in a Final Four and knows what that entails. I am looking forward to learning from her as much as she will learn from us.”
These look like some pretty good staff pickups that have direct connections to the Pacific Northwest and carry some strong pedigree as players and coaches. Let’s hope they can help this team continue the success seen in ‘23-24.