PULLMAN, Wash. – Ready for the 2018-19 basketball season to begin, the Washington State women's basketball team has released its nonconference schedule. Under new head coach Kamie Ethridge the Cougars will play a home heavy slate early before finishing off the calendar year on the road. In all, the Cougars will play six games at Beasley Coliseum, not including an exhibition game, while playing five away from home.
 
With a new era of Cougar basketball beginning under Ethridge, WSU fans will get their first look at their hometown team November 2 when the Cougs host Warner Pacific in an exhibition game. The game against Knights preps the Cougars for their regular season opener against Utah State on Nov. 6 as the Aggies come to Pullman for the first time. The two teams have historically met twice but both games came well before any of the current crop of players were even born with the Aggies winning contests in 1972 and 1980.
 
On Nov. 11, Cougar fans will get a chance to double the fun at Beasley as the women and the men play their one and only doubleheader of the season. For the women, a game against Saint Mary's kicks off a three-game home stand of rematches as the Cougars also welcome to the Palouse Nebraska (Nov. 16) and the two-time defending Big West Champs, UC Davis (Nov. 18). Last season, the Cougs suffered a pair of road defeats to begin the year at UC Davis and Saint Mary's as the two California teams held serve on their home courts. However, in 2016-17, when both came to Beasley, the Cougars came away with wins leading to what will be the deciding games in each trilogy this season. As for Nebraska, the Cougars dispatched the Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Neb. to close out nonconference action.
 
After spending the first three weeks of the season at home, the Cougars hit the road for the first time to take part in the Warner Center Marriott Thanksgiving Basketball Classic in Northridge, Calif. The holiday tournament is hosted by CSUN, which took the Big West Tournament title in 2018 to advance to the NCAA tournament. In addition to the Cougars and Matadors, the four-team field will feature Harvard and Jacksonville State as games will take place Nov. 23-24.
 
Returning home for their final two home games of the nonconference season, the Cougars will again face familiar foes in San Francisco (Nov. 29) and Boise State (Dec. 1). WSU defeated both the Dons, a team the Cougars have beaten in the last six meetings, and Broncos on the road last season while splitting games against the duo at home in 2016-17.
 
With the home schedule complete, the Cougars leave the familiar confines of Pullman to head north to take on Eastern Washington rival Gonzaga on Dec. 9. The defending West Coast Conference champion got the better of the Cougars the last two seasons after back-to-back wins by WSU in the all-time series. Overall, WSU has dominated the matchup of the two squads sporting a 20-9 overall record.
 
To close out the nonconference slate of contests the Cougars head to Las Vegas to play in the Duel in the Desert from Dec. 19-20 at UNLV's Cox Pavilion. The eight-team tournament, split into two separate divisions will feature some of the top teams in the country. In the Desert Division, the Cougars will matchup against the likes of Kansas, Northwestern, and Wichita State beginning with a game against the Jayhawks on Dec. 19. The Desert Division concludes on Dec. 20 with the third-place game and the division final game. For the Cougars, the trip to Las Vegas will be the first of two on the year as the 2019 Pac-12 Championship Tournament will also take place in Las Vegas after moving from Seattle this season.
 
The Cougars bring back seven players from their 2017-18 roster while adding four freshmen into the mix. Additionally, WSU will bring back its top three scorers including All-Pac-12 performer and the 18^th Cougar to score 1,000 career points, redshirt-junior Borislava Hristova. The Cougars officially begin practice for the 2018-19 season on Sept. 28.
 
Times have yet to be set for games as television interests will determine some tip times. The full schedule, including the Pac-12 matchups will be available in late August or early September.