PULLMAN, Wash. – Looking back on the 2019-20 Washington State women's basketball season, fans will recall the strides made by the Cougars in year two under the direction of head coach Kamie Ethridge and the achievements and records set by a pair of remarkable seniors.
The 2019-20 campaign featured a challenge like no other Washington State women's basketball team had seen before. Coming into her second season in Pullman, coach Ethridge scheduled a school-record 15 games against teams ranked inside the top-25, with 11 of those contests coming in Pac-12 Conference play. The tough sledding proved to be fruitful for the Cougars, as they posted a two-win improvement from year one under Ethridge's guidance, finishing at 11-20 in 2019-20. Coupled with last season's nine wins, the 20 victories collected by Ethridge during her first two seasons on the Palouse is the second-most by a second-year head coach in WSU history.
This season was also the final go-around for seniors Borislava Hristova and Chanelle Molina during the 2019-20 season. Both players left their mark during their tenure on the Palouse. Hristova leaves WSU holding numerous school records, including Washington State's all-time scoring record, for a male or female basketball player. Her 2,269 career points also puts her at No. 11 on the Pac-12 women's basketball all-time scoring list. While Molina became the first player in program history to collect over 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in their career.
The Cougs opened the 2019-20 season with four-straight victories for just the fifth time in program history, which included an 80-68 road win at the eventual Mountain West champion, Boise State on Nov. 20.
WSU was off to a hot start to the season shooting the ball, and that held to be true throughout the 2019-20 campaign, with the Cougars ending the year with the fourth-highest field goal percentage in program history at 43.6%, while also posting a 74% free throw percentage, which is second-best in a single-season in program history. The 43.6% success rate from the floor for the Cougs was also the 46th-highest field goal percentage in all of NCAA Division I this season.
After a win over CSUN on Nov. 24 to move to 4-0, Washington State traveled over 3,500 miles to the U.S. Virgin Islands to put its perfect record on the line at the 2019 Paradise Island Jam in St. Thomas on Nov. 28-30. The Cougs played three ranked opponents on three-straight days, which included contests against defending national champion Baylor, and eventual No. 1-ranked South Carolina, on back-to-back nights. Senior Chanelle Molina brought her A-game to the Virgin Islands, as the guard scored 25 points against Bears, then followed up with a 17-point performance the next night against the Gamecocks. WSU would end its run in the Virgin Islands with a loss to then No. 17/23-ranked Indiana to go 0-3 at the Paradise Island Jam and fall to 4-3 on the year.
The Cougars ultimately went 0-15 against teams ranked inside the top-25 during the 2019-20 season, with eight of those contests being decided by 16-points-or-less. Conversely, the Cougars went 11-5 against teams outside of either the Associated Press or USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll.
Coach Ethridge's squad ended the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 7-5 record after going 1-1 at the Miami Holiday Classic before the holiday break, but they quickly fell back to .500 with two-consecutive losses at home to Washington (65-56) and on the road at No. 4/5 Stanford (77-58) to begin the Pac-12 season. Seniors Borislava Hristova and Chanelle Molina each had a 20-point performance in the loss to the Cardinal on Jan. 3, as Molina poured in 27 points and Hristova posted 21 points against the top-five foe.
The player known throughout the Pac-12 as Bobi Buckets once again put her scoring prowess on full display during the 2019-20 season. She led the conference in points scored during the regular season and ended the year with 570 total points. Hristova's 570 total points were also the 26th-most scored in all of NCAA Division I this season. She scored in double-digits in all but one game, setting a WSU senior class record with 30 games of 10-or-more points. Her scoring average of 18.4 points per game was also the third-highest scoring average in the Pac-12 this season. Hristova leaves Washington State as the only player to score over 2,000 points and collect over 500 rebounds.
While for Molina, the Kailua Kona, Hawai'i native ends her WSU career at No. 2 on both the all-time assists (429) and 3-point field goals made (174) lists, while 3,395 career minutes played is third-most minutes logged in program history. The point guard once again displayed her high-endurance level in 2019-20, as she led the Pac-12 in minutes played for the second-straight campaign. Molina logged 1,069 minutes on the court this year, which is the second-most minutes played in a single season in program history, sitting just behind her total of 1,132 minutes played during 2018-19.
WSU was only outscored by two points in the second half at Stanford and rode that momentum to collect back-to-back Pac-12 road wins for the first time since the 2014-15 season with wins at California (96-75) on Jan. 5 and at Washington (66-59) on Jan. 11. The pair of victories pushed Washington State's record back to two games over .500 at 9-7, while also pulling them to an even to .500 in the Pac-12 through four league contests.
The win at Cal was aided by arguably the best first quarter played by the Cougars in program history, as Washington State held a 31-6 lead after 10 minutes of play at Haas Pavilion. The 31 points scored by WSU was the most ever tallied in an opening frame in program history, while the six points scored by the Bears tied for the fewest points allowed in a first quarter.
Washington State had a similar offensive explosion in the fourth quarter in the victory at Washington, as the Cougars scored 29 points in the final frame to mount a come-from-behind win over the Huskies to avenge the loss in Pullman, while also collecting a win in Seattle for the second-straight season.
Hristova broke the Jeanne Eggart's 38-year-old scoring record in the win at Cal with a contested-floater inside the lane to give her 1,869 career points. The Varna, Bulgaria native then became the first player in program history to score 2,000 points in the win over the Huskies, as she surpassed the Washington State men's basketball scoring record of 2,003 points set by Isaac Fontaine. She met both Cougar greats during a pre-game celebration of Hristova's all-time WSU scoring record prior to a contest against Arizona on Jan. 17.
WSU dropped their next four contests after the back-to-back road wins, with three of the four games coming against ranked foes. Washington State ended the drought on Jan. 31 with a 92-66 win over California. Hristova scored a season-best 32 points in the win against the Bears to set a WSU record with seven 30-point games in a career to help the Cougs collect their first season sweep over Cal since the 2010-11 season.
After a loss to Stanford at Beasley Coliseum on Feb. 2, Washington State mounted another thrilling come-from-behind victory five days later on Feb. 7 at home against Colorado. WSU trailed CU by as many as 15 in the third quarter before erupting for 28 points in the fourth to collect the third-largest come-from-behind victory in program history with a 69-59 triumph. Hristova and Molina combined to score 36 of WSU's final 44 points against Colorado, as Molina ended her night with 27 points, while Hristova chipped in 17 points.
In addition to her scoring records, Hristova was named to the All-Pac-12 squad by the league coaches for a program-record fourth time in 2019-20, while she was selected to the media's All-Pac-12 team for the third time in her career. Bobi Buckets ends her Washington State tenure holding the program record in career points (2,269 pts), field goals made (901) and attempted (1,972), career starts (124) and minutes played (3,960).
Molina finished this season inside the top-15 of the Pac-12 in assists per game (7th; 4.2), points per game (13th; 14.6) and rebounds per game (15th; 6.1) en route to her second-consecutive All-Pac-12 honorable mention and All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honorable mention selections.
Several Cougs saw an increase in production during the 2019-20 season, but no player had a bigger breakout offensively than redshirt junior Jovana Subasic. The Sabac, Serbia native entered the 2019-20 season with a career scoring average of 2.3 points per game and she more than quadrupled that this season by averaging 8.4 points per game. Subasic provided a spark off the bench for most of the season, but was inserted into the starting lineup in eight of the final 10 games of the season. The 6-4 post pushed up her productivity in a starting role, as she scored double-digits in five of her 10 starts.
Sophomore Ula Motuga proved to be a cornerstone for the Cougars moving into next season, as the Logan, Australia native started in all 26 games she played and doubled her scoring average from last season at 7.2 points per game in 2019-20. Washington State also saw 6-5 freshman Bella Murekatete develop into a dependable presence in the post, averaging 5.6 points per game and 4.6 rebounds per game in 21 starts as a true freshman.
Washington State ultimately ended its regular season on a seven-game losing streak to end the year at 4-14 in the Pac-12 and earn the No. 11 seed in the 2020 Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. Five of the final seven games to close out the regular season came against teams ranked inside the top-25. The 2019-20 season ultimately came to an end in Sin City, with the Cougars getting eliminated by No. 6 seed Oregon State, 82-55, in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Despite graduating a pair of legendary seniors, Washington State will bring back a load of talent and experience in year three of the Ethridge era that should have fans already excited for the 2020-21 campaign in Pullman.
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