COUGARS TO HONOR SENIORS IN SATURDAY MATINEE
The Washington State women's basketball team (14-14, 5-12 Pac-12) will play its final game of the 2015-16 regular season, Saturday, Feb. 27, hosting Utah (15-13, 7-10) at 11 a.m. The morning game is scheduled to tip off at 11 a.m. at Beasley Coliseum with coverage on the Pac-12 Networks. Prior to tipoff, WSU will honor its four seniors, Dawnyelle Awa, Mariah Cooks, Taylor Edmondson, and Alexas Williamson. The Pac-12 Network's Greg Heister and Elise Woodward will provide television commentary, while Steve Grubbs offers play-by-play on the Washington State IMG Sports Network. Fans can also follow along on Twitter with @WSUWomensHoops.
ABOUT THE UTES
Under the guidance of first-year head coach Lynne Roberts, Utah boasts a 15-13 record. The Utes average 67.1points per game, led by Emily Potter. Potter is one of two double-digit scorers for Utah, averaging 15.5 points per game alongside Paige Crozon with 12.3 ppg. As a team the Utes shoot .411 from the field, and just .314 from beyond the arc. Washington State and Utah have met 17 times in the programs' histories, with Utah owning a 12-5 advantage. However, the Cougars have won three of the last four meetings. In January the Utes snapped a three-game streak by the Cougars, handing WSU a 73-71 defeat in their conference opener.
WSU SENIORS LEAVE THEIR MARK
Saturday's matchup marks the final home game of the year, and the final home game for WSU's four seniors. Entering Saturday's game Dawnyelle Awa, Mariah Cooks, Taylor Edmondson, and Alexas Williamson have played a combined 7,914 minutes in Cougar uniform. The four seniors have their names sprinkled throughout the WSU record book with seven spots among the program's all-time top-10 lists. The senior class has led WSU to back-to-back postseason berths for the first time in school history and the best conference finish since 1997-98. Combined, the seniors own three Pac-12 All-Academic honors.
TWO MINUTE DRILL
Eleven times this season Washington State has played a game that was within two possessions (six points) in the final two minutes. In six of those games the Cougars were leading, and in five games they were trailing. WSU owns a 5-6 record in such games. The Cougars are 4-2 when leading in the final 120 seconds and 1-4 when trailing down the stretch, having pulled off a last-second comeback at Arizona last Sunday. In addition, WSU was within two possessions of pulling off upsets of then-No. 16 Stanford and then-No. 9 Oregon State with less than four minutes remaining. The Cougars are 2-5 in games decided by five points or fewer.
BLOCK PARTY
With three blocks in Thursday's win over Colorado, WSU matched the all-time school record with 114 total blocks this season. The Cougars are averaging 4.1 blocks per game and with one regular-season game to play and at least one Pac-12 Tournament game, the Cougars are on pace to break the school record by at least eight blocks. Redshirt-freshman Nike McClure headlines the Cougar frontline with 25 blocks this season, fourth-most by a freshman in program history and 13th in the conference this season.
AWA FINDING HER FLOW
Senior Dawnyelle Awa has proven to be a competent leader on the Cougar hardwood over the past four seasons. With 125 games under her belt (t-third in school history) and 107 career starts (t-fourth in school history), the Hawaiian native has found her name sprinkled throughout the WSU record book. Awa leads the team in assists (85) and steals (48) this season and currently sits seventh in school history with 349 career assists.
BORISLAVA 'BOBI BUCKETS' HRISTOVA
True freshman and three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Borislava Hristova has turned heads in her first season with the Cougars. The Varna, Bulgaria native is leading the team with 16.1 points per game, second-best in the conference by a freshman and sixth-best overall. Hristova most recently moved into the top spot in WSU freshman history with 185 field goals made, 16.1 points per game, and a .897 (52-58) free throw percentage. She is on pace to set the program's freshman record in total points, just seven points from Lia Galdeira's all-time mark of 459 points. Hristova has reached double-digit scoring figures 24 times this season and already holds the all-time record at WSU for best career free throw percentage at .897 (min. 50 made FTs). Eight times this season Hristova has scored at least 20 points, breaking a freshman record that had stood for over 26 years.
LAST TIME ON THE HARDWOOD
The Cougars cruised to an 83-70 victory over Colorado, holding a double-digit lead for all but the first two minutes of the second half. Five WSU players scored in double figures, led by freshman Borislava Hristova with 17 points. The Cougars shot .527 (29-of-55) from the floor and .556 (10-of-18) from beyond the arc, including six 3-pointers in the second quarter.
COMING UP
Washington State will await seeding for the Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament that will take place at KeyArena in Seattle, Wash., March 3-6. Statistically, the Cougars can finish no higher than ninth (losing the tiebreaker with USC), and no lower than 10th (losing the tiebreaker with California).
RECORD WATCH
Senior Dawnyelle Awa recorded three assists in WSU's win over Colorado, Feb. 25, putting her comfortably into seventh place in school history with 349 career assists. Awa, along with senior Mariah Cooks, have each played in 125 games during their time on the Palouse. The mark pushes the duo into a tie for third place in career games played at WSU. If both seniors play in the remaining regular-season game and opening Pac-12 Tournament game, they will sit in a tie for third on WSU's all-time games-played list (127 games), and just two games shy of the school record held by former teammate Sage Romberg (129). Awa made her 107th career start against the Buffs, tied for fourth-most all-time at Washington State. If Awa remains in the starting lineup for the duration of the season, she will finish third all-time in school history for career starts. Senior Taylor Edmondson has made 77.6 percent (83-of-107) of her free throws during her WSU career. The mark is currently fifth-best in school history, after the New Mexico native began the season tied for seventh with a .769 clip.
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 16.1 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 4.3 rebounds per game and 5.5 points per game. Kostourkova led the team with a career-high 17 points against Colorado, Jan. 4. Alexys Swedlund dropped four 3-pointers against California to aid the Cougars, finishing with a career-high 16 points, and is currently averaging 4.9 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. Nine Cougar players have played in all 28 games, and nine players are averaging over 10 minutes per game. WSU's bench players have outscored the opponent's bench 22 times this season and the Cougar reserves are currently outscore opponent reserves by an average of 14.5 points per game.
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 104-175 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 417-389 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 Jan. 4, 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.
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.
AWA TO PARTICIPATE IN WBCA PROGRAM
Senior guard Dawnyelle Awa was selected this month to participate in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's “So You Want To Be A Coach Program” program. The highly-competitive program is a collaborative effort between the WBCA and the NCAA to provide female student-athletes with an experience that becomes the foundation of a successful coaching career. The program assists female collegiate basketball players who are interested in pursuing a career in coaching women's basketball with professional development and career advancement through education, skills enhancement, networking, and exposure opportunities, while increasing awareness regarding the availability of talented female basketball players who want to coach.
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.