PULLMAN, Wash. – Year two of the Kamie Ethridge Era gets underway for the Washington State women's basketball team this Tuesday – Nov. 5 – inside Beasley Coliseum, as the Cougars host Pepperdine University. Tip-off for WSU's 2019-20 season opener is set for 7 p.m.
WASHINGTON STATE (0-0)
vs Pepperdine (0-0) | Tue., Nov. 5 | 7 p.m.
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THE STARTING FIVE
> Washington State enters year two under head coach Kamie Ethridge. The Cougars collected nine wins in Coach Ethridge's first season at the helm, which included only the second season sweep of instate rival Washington in program history.
> Nine players return to the Palouse from last season, which includes three players that saw 19-or-more starts. Washington State will have their top two leading scorers back from a season ago in seniors Borislava Hristova (19.9 ppg) and Chanelle Molina (15.9 ppg). The 2019-20 WSU roster will once again feature an international flair, with 13 players from eight countries and four continents suiting up for the Cougars.
> Borislava Hristova was one of 20 players throughout NCAA Division I named to the 2020 Cheryl Miller Award watch list. It is the second-straight season that Hristova has seen her name on the Miller Award watch list, as she was one of 10 finalists for the honor last season after averaging 19.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Distributed by the National Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Coaches Association, the Cheryl Miller Award is given to the top small forward in all of NCAA Division I. Fans can vote for Hristova for the Cheryl Miller Award by clicking the link here.
> Tuesday's season opener marks the six time in the last seven seasons that the Cougars have opened a new campaign at Beasley Coliseum. Washington State is 3-2 in season openers played in Pullman during that stretch, and are coming off a 72-61 loss to Utah State in the 2018-19 opener.
> This year's matchup against Pepperdine marks the first time since 2005 that the two schools have met on the hardwood and will be just the third all-time meeting against one another. The host team has held home court in the previous two meetings, with Pepperdine winning the first meeting, 78-75, in 1983 before Washington State captured the rematch 12 seasons later at Beasley Coliseum, 66-57.
LAST TIME OUT
The Cougars are coming off a hard-fought 71-63 exhibition victory on Halloween over Beijing Normal University in Beasley Coliseum. Seniors Borislava Hristova and Chanelle Molina got their final campaign in a Cougar uniform off to a robust start, as the dynamic duo totaled 46 points and 20 rebounds in the win. Hristova collected a game-best 28 points, while Molina nearly posted a triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
Washington State played lockdown defense in the fourth quarter, closing the game out on a 19-4 run to score the eight-point come-from-behind victory. The Cougars displayed clutch shooting at the free throw line in the victory, as they went a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe.
The 2019-20 SCHEDULE
The Cougars will play arguably one of the toughest schedules in the country in 2019-20. The Cougs will take on 16 teams that had an RPI inside the Top 100 last season, 14 of which qualified for the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
The non-conference slate features six teams that played in the NCAA Tournament, including games at Beasley against BYU (Nov. 9) and Gonzaga (Dec. 8). WSU will travel to a tropical climate for during the holidays, as they travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam on Nov. 28-30, before heading to Miami, Florida on Dec. 20-21 for the Miami Holiday Classic.
The Cougars open Pac-12 play on Dec. 29 in Pullman with an Apple Cup Series game against Washington. A pair of Sweet 16 teams from a year ago will challenge Washington State at home in Pac-12 play, as Stanford (Feb. 2), which advanced to the Elite 8, and UCLA (Feb. 21) travel to Friel Court.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine University is coming off a 22-12 season, which saw the Wave advance to the Sweet 16 of the 2019 WNIT. Pepperdine returns three starters from a year ago, but have to make up the loss of leading scorer Yasmine Robinson-Bacote (20.9 ppg) and former head coach Delisha Milton-Jones.
Senior Barbara Sitanggan returns a team-best 11.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game from as season ago. The All-West Coast Conference honorable mention selection led the conference with 176 assists and finished with the third-best assist-turnover ratio in NCAA Division I at 3.83. Sophomore Malia Bambrick is coming off an All-WCC freshman team selection, after averaging 8.0 points in 33 starts as a true freshman.
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