COUGARS CONCLUDE HOME STAND AGAINST NO. 17 UCLA
The Washington State women's basketball team (12-5, 3-3 Pac-12) concludes a four-game home stand against the No. 17/23 UCLA Bruins (11-5, 2-3 Pac-12) Sunday at noon inside Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars are looking for back-to-back victories over the conference's Los Angeles schools for the first time since 2001, and their first back-to-back wins over ranked teams since the 1994-95 season. The Pac-12 Networks will televise the matinee, with commentary from Cindy Brunson and Drew Shiller. Steve Grubbs will provide play-by-play action on the Washington State IMG Sports Network. Fans can also follow live updates on Twitter with @WSUWomensHoops, and catch live stats online at wsucougars.com.
ABOUT THE BRUINS
Entering the week as the No. 17 team in the AP Top-25 Poll, UCLA is seeking to improve its Pac-12 Conference record to 4-2. The Bruins most recently fell to Washington in Seattle, 64-56. Led by head coach Cori Close in her fifth season, UCLA boasts an 11-5 record. The Bruins are led in scoring by Jordin Canada (17.9 ppg), a sophomore guard, and Nirra Fields (17.1 ppg), a senior guard. UCLA runs a high-powered offense, averaging a conference-best 79.2 points per game. The Cougars are seeking their eighth program win against the Bruins, who own a 50-7 advantage in the series history. WSU's last victory over UCLA came March 1, 2012, as the Cougars handed the Bruins a 76-65 defeat at Beasley Coliseum.
COUGARS SEEK BACK-TO-BACK WINS OVER RANKED OPPONENTS
For the first time since the 2006-07 season, Washington State will face nationally-ranked opponents in three-consecutive games. After falling to then-No. 14 Arizona State, the Cougars upset No. 25 USC, Friday. WSU welcomes No. 17/23 UCLA Sunday, and seeks to beat top-25 opponents in back-to-back games for the first time since the 1994-95 season, when it beat then-No. 21/20 Oregon State and -No. 14/14 Washington. The Cougars also have the opportunity to earn a series sweep of USC and UCLA for the first time since January of 2001.
BORISLAVA 'BOBI BUCKETS' HRISTOVA
True freshman Borislava Hristova has turned heads in her first season with the Cougars. The Varna, Bulgaria native is averaging 17.2 points per game, second-best in the conference by a freshman and sixth-best overall. Her scoring average is currently the sixth-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 shooting .478 (120-of-251) from the floor as a small forward. Most recently, Hristova scored 21 points against No. 25 USC, marking her seventh 20-point performance of the season. The accomplishment is a WSU freshman record that had previously stood for over 26 years. She is on pace to set the program's freshman records in total points, points per game, free throw percentage, and field goals made. Hristova was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, Nov. 23, and was also named the Rainbow Wahine Classic MVP after pouring on 39 points in two games in Honolulu, Hawaii.
DAUGHERTY REACHES 100 WSU WINS
Head coach June Daugherty earned her 100th-career win at Washington State with the Cougars' 74-66 victory at Colorado, Jan. 4. Daugherty has guided the WSU program to a 102-166 record over nine seasons in Pullman, becoming 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 415-380 record over her 27-year coaching career.
DAUGHERTY DOMINATES FOR DECADES
Head coach June Daugherty has proven to be successful across the Pac-12 Conference and beyond. When she earned her 100th win last Monday, she became the first coach in conference history to win 100+ games at multiple Pac-12 schools (Washington). Daugherty also became one of three active coaches at a Power-5 conference school to have guided three different Division-I programs to 100+ wins. Daugherty boasted a 191-139 record while at Washington and registered 122 wins in her time at Boise State.
LAST TIME ON THE HARDWOOD
The Cougars handed No. 25 USC a 73-61 defeat at Beasley Coliseum, Jan. 15. The victory was the first over a ranked opponent for WSU this season. Borislava Hristova scored 21 points to lead the Cougars. She was complemented by Louise Brown with her first-career double-double (10 points, 13 rebounds), Caila Hailey with nine points and a career-high seven rebounds, and 10 points and eight rebounds from Maria Kostourkova.
COMING UP
The Cougars will travel to Seattle to face the Washington Huskies, Saturday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m. inside Alaska Airlines Arena.
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.
RECORD WATCH
Senior Taylor Edmondson has made 77.0 percent (77-of-100) of her free throws during her WSU career. The mark is currently tied for sixth-best in school history, after the New Mexico native began the season tied for seventh with a .769 clip. Fellow senior Dawnyelle Awa recorded three assists in WSU's game against USC, Jan. 15, putting her career mark at 314 assists, currently ninth-best in WSU history. Awa, along with senior Mariah Cooks, have each played in 114 games during their time on the Palouse. Assuming both seniors played Sunday, they would move into a tie for 10th on WSU's all-time list. If both seniors play in the 12 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). Awa has started 96 games in her career, tied for eighth all-time in school history. If Awa remains in the starting lineup for the duration of the season, she will finish sixth all-time in school history for career starts.
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 17.2 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 proven an inside threat, averaging 4.7 rebounds per game and 5.8 points per game. Kostourkova led the team with a career-high 17 points against Colorado, Jan. 4. 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 4.7 points per game.
COUGARS' DEPTH SHINES
The Washington State women's basketball team is the deepest it has been in nine years, according to head coach June Daugherty. Ten Cougar players have played in all 17 games, and nine players are averaging over 10 minutes per game. WSU's bench players have outscored the opponent's bench 13 times this season and the Cougar reserves are currently outscore opponent reserves by an average of 11.5 points per game.
RACKING UP THE AIRLINE MILES
Washington State did its fair share of traveling during the nonconference season. The Cougars traveled a total of 15,728 miles during the 9-2 nonconference season, averaging 1,430 miles per game. WSU traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii for the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic, Nov. 20-22, flying 5,860 miles. After returning home for Thanksgiving and a single home game, the team turned around and began a nine-day trip to Oklahoma State, Boise State and San Diego, accruing 4,722 miles. WSU continued its travels with a trip to Moraga, Calif., to face Saint Mary's, adding an additional 1,758 miles. The Cougars closed the nonconference season accruing 3,308 miles with a trip to Lawrence, Kan., and a victory over the Jayhawks.
STARTING OFF STRONG
After beginning the season 5-0 for the first time since 1998, the Cougars recorded their first loss of the season at Oklahoma State. WSU responded with three-straight victories, improving to 8-1 for the first time since 1989-90, before falling at Saint Mary's, Dec. 12. 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.
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).
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.