Washington State University Athletics
Cougars Wrap Up Road Trip at San Diego
December 05, 2015 | Women's Basketball
COUGARS WRAP UP ROAD TRIP AT SAN DIEGO
The Washington State women's basketball team (6-1) concludes a nine-day road trip Sunday with a 1 p.m. matchup against the San Diego Toreros (7-0). The Cougars and USD will play at Jenny Craig Pavilion with coverage on TheW.tv and the Washington State IMG Sports Network with Steve Grubbs. Fans can also follow live updates on Twitter with @WSUWomensHoops, and catch live stats online at wsucougars.com.
ABOUT THE TOREROS
San Diego is led by 10th-year head coach Cindy Fisher. Under Fisher's guidance, the Toreros are a perfect 7-0 this season, having most recently defeated cross-town rival San Diego State. USD is looking to build upon a WNIT appearance last season, after finishing the year 25-7 and second in the West Coast Conference. The Toreros are led in scoring by first-team all-WCC selection Malina Hood, who is averaging 20.0 points per game this season.
LAST TIME ON THE HARDWOOD
The Cougars pulled out a road win at Boise State, behind a career-high 12 points from sophomore Pinelopi Pavlopoulou and 18 points from freshman Borislava Hristova. Sophomore Bianca Blanaru pulled in a career-high 10 rebounds, alongside 10 boards from senior Mariah Cooks. It was a defensive game in which WSU had a school-record 11 blocked shots, including four from redshirt-freshman Nike McClure.
COMING UP
Washington State will return to Pullman with little respite before its next game. The Cougars will welcome regional rival Gonzaga to Beasley Coliseum Tuesday, Dec. 8. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:02 p.m. with coverage on the Pac-12 Networks.
DAUGHERTY APPROACHES 100 WSU WINS
Head coach June Daugherty has led the Washington State women's basketball program to a 96-162 record over nine seasons in Pullman, just four wins shy of 100 WSU-career victories. Daugherty will become the third coach in Cougar history to reach 100 WSU wins. Sue Durant boasted a 134-99 record in nine seasons (1974-82) and Harold Rhodes guided the Cougars to 194 wins over 17 years at WSU (1983-99). Daugherty is no stranger to success, having reached 400-career wins last season, and currently owns a 409-376 record over her 27-year coaching career.
THREE OPPONENTS – THREE TIME ZONES
The Cougars conclude a nine-day road trip Sunday that spanned three time zones and three states. WSU traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma and the Central Time Zone, falling to the Cowgirls, 70-60, Monday. The team jumped back one hour into the Mountain Time Zone to defeat Boise State, 57-52, Thursday. The extended road trip concludes Sunday at San Diego in the Pacific Time Zone. WSU won't have much of a break as it hosts Gonzaga at home just two days after facing USD in southern California.
OFF TO A HOT START
The Cougars (6-1) started their season 5-0 for the first time since 1998-99 when WSU also started the year 5-0. WSU is now 6-1 for the first time since the 2005-06 season. The honor for the best start in school history goes to the Cougars' 1978-79 squad that started the season 10-0 before falling to Oregon.
BORISLAVA 'BOBI BUCKETS' HRISTOVA
True freshman Borislava Hristova has turned heads in her first season with the Cougars. The Varna, Bulgaria native is averaging 20.6 points per game, best in the conference by a freshman and third-best overall. Her scoring average is the third-best by a freshman in the entire country. Hristova dropped 30 points on San Jose State, becoming just the second freshman in WSU history to reach the 30-point plateau. She is a dead-eye from the field, shooting an impressive .559 (57-of-102) as a forward. Hristova was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, the conference released Nov. 23, and was also named the Rainbow Wahine Classic MVP after pouring on 39 points in two games in Honolulu, Hawaii.
RECORD WATCH
Senior Taylor Edmondson has made 77.9 percent (67-of-86) of her free throws during her WSU career. The mark is currently fourth-best in school history, after the New Mexico native began the season tied for seventh with a .769 clip. Fellow senior Dawnyelle Awa enters Sunday's game with 280 career assists, five shy of a place on the school's all-time top-10 list. Awa, along with senior Mariah Cooks, have each played in 104 games during their time on the Palouse. If both seniors play in the 22 remaining regular season games, they will sit in a tie for third on WSU's all-time games-played list (126 games), and just three games shy of the school record held by former teammate Sage Romberg (129).
COUGAR FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTING EARLY
Washington State welcomed one of its most talented recruiting classes in June Daugherty's tenure with the signing of its three 2015-16 freshmen. Borislava Hristova currently leads the team with 20.6 points per game. The Varna, Bulgaria native dropped 30 points on San Jose State, becoming just the second freshman in WSU history to reach the 30-point plateau. Maria Kostourkova has proved an inside threat, averaging 5.0 rebounds per game and 5.3 points per game. Alexys Swedlund dropped four 3-pointers against San Jose State to aid the Cougars in victory, finishing with a career-high 16 points, and is currently averaging 6.1 points per game.
YOUNG WSU TEAM LED BY FOUR SENIORS
With nine underclassmen, WSU is young this season. The Cougars entered the season with eight student-athletes that had played less than 300 minutes in their careers, but are led by a senior class that has played more than 6,000 minutes in Cougar uniform. Washington State returns two starters from last year after losing Shalie Dheensaw, Tia Presley, and Lia Galdeira (foregone senior year).
THE “UNITED NATIONS OF BASKETBALL”
The 2015-16 Cougar basketball team is represented by student-athletes from seven different countries and five different states. Head coach June Daugherty regards the team as the “United Nations of Basketball.” The Cougars have five student-athletes from Europe compared to six for the rest of the Pac-12 Conference combined. Of the conference's six Australian student-athletes, two of them don WSU uniforms.
WSU PICKED TO FINISH 10TH
The Pac-12 Conference released the 2015-16 Preseason Coaches' Poll, Oct. 14, with the Cougars picked to finish 10th in the conference, receiving 30 points. The 2015-16 Preseason Media Poll also tabbed Washington State for 10th place, with 75 points, the conference announced Nov. 4.
LATE PRESIDENT FLOYD HONORED
Washington State University's late president Elson S. Floyd, who passed away in June after complications from colon cancer, is being honored this season by WSU student-athletes with a black 'ESF' patch on team uniforms. The Cougars' basketball uniforms don the patch on the right side of the chest.
FOUR PLAYERS TABBED TEAM CAPTAINS
Redshirt-freshman Nike McClure, sophomore Pinelopi Pavlopoulou, and seniors Mariah Cooks and Alexas Williamson were named this year's team captains for the Cougars.
DAUGHERTY INKS FOUR FOR 2016-17
Chanelle Molina, Cameron Fernandez, Katie Campbell, and Kayla Washington have each signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Washington State University beginning next fall. Molina (Kailua Kona, Hawaii) is listed as a five-star recruit by ESPN.com, and is the third WSU recruit from Konawaena High School (Dawnyelle Awa and Lia Galdeira). Fernandez (Makawao, Hawaii) led Lahainaluna High School to a 20-2 last season and the state championship game, while averaging 17 points, six assists, four steals, and five rebounds per game. Campbell (Oxnard, Calif.) is a three-time captain at Oaks Christian High School, she is a 3-point threat for the Lions, and made 77 shots from beyond the arc during her junior season. Washington (San Bernardino, Calif.) is a four-year captain at Cajon High School, Washington has led the Cowgirls to three-straight Citrus Belt League Championships.
COUGAR BASKETBALL ON THE RADIO AND WEB
Follow the Cougars on Pullman's 104.7 FM, 1150 AM, or go to wsucougars.com and listen online. Connect with Washington State University Athletics on the web at wsucougars.com, the official website of Cougar Athletics.
