The mood in the Gonzaga women's basketball gathering room was significantly different Monday afternoon compared to years past for the annual NCAA Tournament selection.

The Bulldogs won the West Coast Conference tournament and received an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament for the first time, meaning the only thing in question was who they would play.

And Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves said the Zags "would not be where we are right now if it weren't for (Rachel Kane)."

Kane, the 2003 Advertiser State Player of the year out of Punahou, helped lead Gonzaga in her first full injury-free season. She is the only player from Hawai'i in the tournament.

"I'm pretty good now, I play like I'm 100 percent," said Kane, a junior point guard. "It feels good to be back in playing mode. I'm just happy and thankful for the opportunity."

Kane tore the medial collateral ligament and anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee and missed time her freshman season. She then had surgery on that knee in 2005.

"This is my first full year, so in a sense I'm new to it, but I've been around for four years," Kane said. "Sitting and watching, you learn, but it's different playing. I'm just happy to be playing."

Reaching the NCAAs "shows what a difference she would have made if she were healthy," Graves said.

"I don't think there was a more important player in the WCC tournament," Graves said. "She had a near triple-double the last two games, and she has a calming effect on the team."

In those two games, Kane averaged 6.5 points, 8 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game.

"She organizes us, and that's important," Graves said. "We're not the most athletic, not the quickest, not the biggest, and not the best-shooting team, but we execute. We run our half-court offense well, and that comes from her."

On the season, Kane averages 4.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists since returning to the starting lineup after the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic in late November. Gonzaga freshman Tatriana Lorenzo, a 2006 All-State guard from Kamehameha, hurt her knee in the same tournament.

Lorenzo will receive a medical redshirt year for this season. Next season, Graves said, "I anticipate them playing together" in the back court.

"It's exciting. They are two different players," Graves said. "Rachel doesn't have quickness Tatri has, but Tatri doesn't have the decision making skills yet that Rachel has."

Graves said he's a good friend of Dennis Agena, who runs the legendary Kalakaua clinics, and hopes "to keep recruiting your players over there."

Gonzaga (24-9, 13-1 in the West Coast Conference), a 12th seed, faces fifth-seeded Middle Tennessee State on Saturday at Stanford.

"It's our first time and we're happy," Kane said. "But we don't want to just be in it, we want to get wins."

During Monday's selection process, Gonzaga was one of the final schools to be announced. Although the team and its supporters knew the Zags received an automatic berth, people in the room began exchanging nervous looks.

"We were anxious for our name to come up," Kane said.

Graves said the atmosphere was celebratory, as opposed to years past when Gonzaga's postseason fate was in question.

"The mood was a lot lighter, since we knew we were going," Graves said. "If you don't know it's a little more intense.

"It's fun, both teams are in. It's always been the men, but now we get to share in it."

And while basketball keeps Kane busy, she's dedicating her other waking moments to completing her engineering degree.

In April, she heads to Washington, D.C., to present her senior design project, a water distribution system for a city in Rwanda. She hopes to receive a grant to implement the project.

"It's pretty busy," said Kane, who won't travel to Rwanda. Next year she will take classes toward earning a minor in business to remain eligible for basketball.

"Pretty much I'm in the gym or the engineering building," Kane said. "And then the rest of the time I'm sleeping.

"I'm having fun. I think my hard work is paying off."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.