Redshirt freshman forward Lauren Whittaker has tied the record for the most West Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Freshman of the Week awards in a season at 12.
Whittaker matched the West Coast Conference record for Freshman of the Week honors originally set by Santa Clara guard Tess Heal during the 2022-23 season. The conference began recognizing a freshman of the week in the 2020-21 season.
In victories over the Washington
State Cougars at home and the Pacific Tigers on the road this past week, the National Freshman of the Year candidate added two more double-doubles to her historic first season of college basketball. Her 15 double-doubles of 2025-26 are the most of any freshman nationally and tied for the 13th-most in the NCAA on the women’s side.
Whittaker also leads the West Coast Conference in scoring (19.0 points per game), rebounding (10.2 rebounds per game), and field goal percentage (55.6 shooting percentage).
The Gonzaga Bulldogs (21-8, 13-3 WCC) will have their Senior Night in the McCarthey Athletic Center against the Saint Mary’s Gaels (15-14, 6-10 WCC) on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 6:00 p.m. PT on ESPN+/SWX.
The Zags are in a tie for the top of the West Coast Conference standings with the Loyola Marymount Lions (19-8, 13-3 WCC) before the final week of the regular season.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho
