If you don't actually look at the West Coast Conference bracket, you might presume that after the one "play-in" game between the eight and nine seeds, everyone would play a traditional bracket style after that first case.
For the WCC, that is far from the truth, as seeds No. 3 and 4 get a second round bye into the quarterfinals and seeds No. 1 and 2 advance to the semifinals by default. So the fact that No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 2 San Diego are in the semis are of no surprise. And really, the advancement of No. 3 Saint Mary's and No. 4 BYU have to be almost accepted facts - or at least pre-presumed outcomes - even before the quarterfinals were played yesterday. (Just don't go look at the men's bracket to debunk my statement, please.)
In BYU's semifinal, the Cougars used 13 3-pointers to down Loyola Marymount (who advanced after defeated USF in the second round). Stephanie Vermunt Seaborn led the way with 21 points, all from beyond the arc.
For Saint Mary's, the Portland Pilots gave the Gaels all they could handle despite shooting under 30 percent for the game. Saint Mary's shot 43.5 percent from the field and needed every last point in the low-scoring 54-51 game. The Gaels got all but six of its points from the starting five to get to the 20-win mark on the season.
In today's semifinals, BYU takes on Gonzaga at noon, while Saint Mary's squares off with San Diego at 2:30 p.m., both on BYUtv. After a day off for the victors, the championship game is slated for Monday at 1 p.m., on ESPN U.