PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University women's basketball team seeks a 2-0 start to the 2019-20 season this Saturday, as they host BYU inside Beasley Coliseum. The battle of the Cougars tips off at 1 p.m. and will be streamed for free on the WSU Live Stream page.

WASHINGTON STATE (0-0)
vs BYU (0-0) | Saturday., Nov. 9 | 1 p.m. | Beasley Colesium
  Live Stats | WSUCougars.com
  Watch | WSU Live Stream
  Listen | WSU IMG Radio Network
  Tickets | WSUCougars.com

THE STARTING FIVE
-> The Cougars will be seeking their first 2-0 start to open a season since the 2016-17 campaign. Washington State captured three-straight victories over Loyola Marymount (92-45), Saint Mary's (85-69) and San Francisco (73-35) at Beasley Coliseum to open the year and later qualified for the WNIT that season, advancing all the way to the Final Four of the tournament before falling at Georgia Tech, 69-61.

-> Saturday's contest will feature the second-straight game against a West Coast Conference opponent for the Cougs, after knocking off Pepperdine, 85-48, in Tuesday's season opener. Washington State is 49-37 all-time against current WCC schools, with the majority of the games played against instate foe Gonzaga, where the Cougars hold a 20-10 lead in the all-time series. The Cougs will host their third WCC team of the season on Dec. 8, 2019, when Gonzaga comes to Beasley Coliseum.

-> Saturday will be the rubber match in the all-time series against Washington State and BYU. Both squads have won five games in the previous 10 matchups, with WSU capturing the most recent victory with a 72-64 win in Provo, Utah on March 16, 2017 in the WNIT. BYU brought home the win in the last regular season matchup between the two, with an 80-73 win in Provo back on Nov. 26, 2013. The Cougs have not dropped a game to BYU in Beasley Coliseum since the 2000-2001 campaign.

-> On Tuesday, senior Borislava Hristova moved into second place on the Washington State women's basketball all-time scoring list.  With her second bucket in the third quarter, the Bulgarian native surpassed Lia Galdeira's (2012-15) career total of 1,710 points. She now has 1,722 points in her career and is 246 points shy from surpassing Jeanne Eggart's (177-82) program record of 1,967 points.

-> Hristova's 23-point performance against Pepperdine in the 2019-20 season opener marked her 37th career game with 20-plus points. Hristova was one of 20 players throughout NCAA Division I named to the 2020 Cheryl Miller Award watch list prior to the start of the season. 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.

LAST TIME OUT
Fresh off an 85-48 season-opening victory over Pepperdine on Tuesday night in Beasley Coliseum. The duo of Borislava Hristova and Chanelle Molina paced Washington State to the victory, as Hristova collected 23 points and Molina added 13 points and four assists. Freshmen Bella Murekatete and Emma Nankervis provided steady play in the post in the season opener, as each player recorded 10 points in the scoring ledger.

The 2019-20 SCHEDULE
The Cougars will play arguably one of the toughest schedules in the country in 2019-20. The Cougs take on 16 teams that had an RPI inside the Top 100 last season, 14 of which qualified for the 2019 NCAA Tournament and includes a game against the defending National Champions, Baylor, in the Virgin Islands on Nov. 28.

The non-conference slate features six foes that played in the NCAA Tournament last season, 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 trek 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 COUGARS
BYU has been one of the top teams in the West Coast Conference since making the move over from the Mountain West Conference in 2011. The 2018-19 campaign was no different, as they went 26-7, their 12th season with 20-plus wins under head coach Jeff Judkins. The Cougars went 15-3 in the WCC to finish second and earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament, where they were a No 7-seed in the Chicago Regional and posted a 73-64 victory over Auburn in the Round of 64, before falling to Stanford in the second round.

The Cougars return three starters from last season's 26-win team. BYU will have to navigate the 2019-20 campaign without leading scorer Shaylee Gonzales (17.0 pp) after suffering a knee injury over the summer, but bring back a pair of double-digit scorers in Paisley Johnson (14.5 ppg; 41.1 FG%) and Brenna Chase-Drollinger (12.8 ppg; 35.2 3-PT%) and the team's leading rebounder in 6-7 junior Sara Hamson (5.9 rpg).

BYU has yet to play an official game in the 2019-20 season, but have a pair of exhibition wins under their belt against Westminster College (69-61) and Antelope Valley (105-52). Johnson, an Everett, Washington native, averaged a team-best 14 ppg in the exhibition wins, as she shot a blistering 63% from behind the arc in the two contests.

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