SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga women's basketball head coach Lisa Fortier has been named a semifinalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith Women's Coach of the Year Award, as announced Wednesday morning by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
 
Fortier is one of 10 coaches in the nation to be named a semifinalist for the award. This season, Fortier has guided the Bulldogs to their best start in program history at 28-2—the 18th 20-win season in program history—along with a program- and conference-best Associated Press Top 25 Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll rankings at No. 11 and No. 10, respectively.
 
Gonzaga captured its 16^th West Coast Conference regular-season title this season with a program- and conference-record tying 17-1 record and is poised for its 11^th NCAA tournament appearance in the last 12 seasons. In the second reveal of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee Top-16 reveal on Monday, the Zags were projected to host the First and Second Rounds of the 2020 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship as a No. 3 seed, which would be the highest seed in program history.
 
The finalists for the award will be revealed on March 19, and the winner of the 2020 Werner Ladder Naismith Women's Coach of the Year will be announced on April 4.
   

NAME	SCHOOL	CONFERENCE
Adia Barnes	Arizona	Pac-12
Lisa Fortier	Gonzaga	WCC
Nell Fortner	Georgia Tech	ACC
Kelly Graves	Oregon	Pac-12
Joe McKeown	Northwestern	Big Ten
Wes Moore	North Carolina State	ACC
Kim Mulkey	Baylor	Big 12
Dawn Plitzuweit	South Dakota	Summit League
Dawn Staley	South Carolina	SEC
Jeff Walz	Louisville	ACC