#8/7 WASHINGTON (18-2, 6-1) vs WASHINGTON STATE (8-10, 3-4)
1:00 p.m. | Sunday | Jan. 22, 2017
Pullman, Wash. | Beasley Coliseum (11,671)
SERIES HISTORY
The Cougs return home to take on the Pac-12's top team in #8/7 Washington. The game is the return trip by the Huskies after the Cougars began conference play in Seattle to end the 2016 calendar year. Last time, despite putting three in double-figures, the WSU dropped their opening Pac-12 contest at Washington, 94-63. The win for the Huskies ran the all-time record for Washington against Washington State to 71-20 with UW winning the last four meetings between the two sides. The last win for the Cougars came Feb. 20, 2015 in Seattle while the last home win came on Jan. 7, 2014. The two wins bookended a three-game winning streak for WSU.
LAST TIME OUT
Undermanned and lacking their top three weapons, the Washington State women's basketball team put forth a valiant effort Sunday afternoon in Tucson only to see a win slip through their hands late against Arizona. The Cougs saw their six-game win streak against the Wildcats snapped as Arizona stole a 56-55 decision in the game's final moments. Stepping up when called upon, juniors
Caila Hailey and Pinelope Pavlopoulou led the Cougar scoring attack from the backcourt as Hailey came up with a career and game-best 16 points while Pavlopoulou scored 12 in her first career start. Underneath, the Cougs' bigs off the bench found their way with freshman
Kayla Washington scoring a career-best 12 points to go with eight rebounds while redshirt-sophomore
Nike McClure protected the rim with a career-best 13 rebounds and four blocks. Despite the Cougars' efforts, the Wildcats matched the production thanks to 15 points and nine rebounds from LaBrittney Jones who came up with the game's winning putback with :30 seconds remaining in the game. She would also add a block in the waning moments that helped to ultimately seal the win for her team. Malena Washington chipped in 13 points while Breanna Workman added 11 points.
ABOUT THE HUSKIES
The Huskies enter Sunday's matchup as the Pac-12's highest ranked team coming in at #8 in the AP Top-25 and #7 in the Coaches Poll. Having lost just twice on the year and only once in conference the Huskies also sport the Pac-12's best RPI at #7 in the nation. The nation's leading scorer, Kelsey Plum became just the 12th player in NCAA history and first in Pac-12 history to score 3000 points two weeks ago as she is nearing in on the NCAA's all-time record needing just 353 more points. On the year she is averaging 31.2 points per game leading the Huskies to the 4th best scoring offense in the country at 87.4. Fellow senior Chantel Osahor leads the nation in rebounding at 13.8 rpg while also posting 15.2 ppg. She has recorded a nation's best 16 double-doubles on the year.
