TEMPE, ARIZ. – The Washington State women's basketball team heads out to the desert this Friday, Feb. 14, to take on Arizona State for a Pac-12 Conference women's basketball showdown. Tip-off against the Sun Devils is set for 6 p.m. PT and will air live on the Pac-12 Networks Arizona.

WASHINGTON STATE (11-13, 4-8)
at Arizona State (16-8, 6-6) | Friday, Feb. 14 | 6 p.m. PT | Desert Financial Arena
  Live Stats | WSUCougars.com
  Watch | Pac-12 Network Arizona (Cindy Brunson and Joan Bonvicini)
  Listen | WSU IMG Radio Network (Steve Grubbs)
  Game Notes | Click Here

STARTING FIVE
-> The Cougs head to the Grand Canyon State for a pair of road contests this weekend against Arizona State and Arizona. Washington State opens the excursion on Friday in Tempe against the Sun Devils, before challenging the Wildcats on Sunday, Feb. 16. WSU is looking to get back on the winning track after dropping a 78-66 decision to Utah on Feb. 9, to close out a four-game homestand at Beasley Coliseum.

-> Washington State enters play this week in a tie with Southern California for eighth-place in the Pac-12 standings, as they stand at 4-8 through 12 league games. Overall on the year, WSU holds an 11-13 record. The 11 wins surpasses last season's total of nine wins, while the four Pac-12 victories this season tie last year's win total for the Cougs in the conference, with six games remaining in 2019-20.

-> Friday's contest marks the 66th meeting between Washington State and Arizona State on the hardwood. The Sun Devils have won nine-straight against the Cougars, which includes a 65-56 win over WSU on Jan. 19 of this year. ASU leads 47-18 in the all-time series. The last WSU victory over Arizona State came on Jan. 3, 2014, when the Cougars collected an 85-78 win in Pullman. The Cougs are 6-24 all-time in Tempe, with the last win coming on Feb. 1, 2013.

-> The Cougars will be taking on a ranked opponent for the 10th time this season when they hit the court against the No. 22/24-ranked Sun Devils. Only No. 1-ranked South Carolina has played against more ranked teams this season than Washington State. The Cougs are still looking for their first win over a top-25 opponent, as they are 0-9 against teams ranked in either the Associated Press or USA Today/WBCA Coaches Polls.

-> Washington State stands a 2-3 on the road in Pac-12 games this season. The Cougars captured back-to-back conference road wins for the first time since the 2014-15 season with a win at Cal on Jan. 5, followed by a victory at Washington six days later on Jan. 11.

LAST TIME OUT
Washington State got off the mat to score 29 fourth-quarter points against Utah on Sunday, Feb. 9, but it wasn't enough to lift the Cougars out of the 34-point hole they created in the third quarter, as the Utes handed WSU a 78-66 defeat.

Sophomore Ula Motuga returned to action after a two-game absence and matched her season-high in points with 14 against Utah. The Logan, Australia native also pulled down seven rebounds against the Utes. Redshirt senior Borislava Hristova and redshirt sophomore Johanna Muzet each tallied 12 points in the loss to round out a trio of double-digit scorers for the Cougs.

A WARM WELCOMING
Sophomore Ula Motuga returned to action for the Cougars last Sunday, Feb. 9, against Utah after missing two games due to an injury. The Aussie post player came out strong, as she put together one of her best performances of the season, with a 14-point, seven-rebound performance against the Utes.

The 14-point effort matched a season-best for Motuga, which came in the Jan. 31 win over California inside Beasley Coliseum.

FIGHTING UNTIL THE END
The Washington State offense has come to life in the fourth quarter in each of their last two contests. The Cougars scored 28 points in a 69-59 come-from-behind victory over Colorado on Feb. 7, then tallied 29 points in a 78-66 loss to Utah two days later on Feb. 9.

Both of WSU's high-scoring performances in the fourth quarter last week fell a bucket shy of tying the program-record for most points in a fourth quarter. The Cougars put up a program-best 31 points in the fourth quarter against UCLA back on Jan. 6, 2017 to set the record for the most points in a fourth quarter in WSU history.

BOBI PUTTING IN THE BUCKETS
Redshirt senior Borislava Hristova comes into Friday's game having scored double-digits in 18-consecutive games. That is the fourth-longest stretch of double-figure scoring performances by a senior in Washington State history. She needs two more games with at least 10 points to move her into a tie with Camille Thompson (1993-94) for the third-longest active streak in program history at 20.

HRISTOVA CONTINUES THE CLIMB
Borislava Hristova enters Friday's game in a tie for 16th on the Pac-12 women's basketball all-time scoring list with Cal's Ashley Walker's (2006-09), as both hold a career point total of 2,142. The player known as Bobi Buckets needs just 10 points to move into 15th on the Pac-12 all-time scoring list and 12 points to move into 14th place.

Currently, Oregon's Jillian Alleyne (2013-16) is in 15th on the Pac-12 all-time scoring list at 2,151 career points, while UCLA's Jordin Canada (2015-18)'s career point total of 2,153 is currently the 14th-most points scored in Pac-12 history.

CHANELLE'S MOVED INTO SECOND
Senior Chanelle Molina recently moved into second place on a pair of all-time lists for the Cougs. The point guard recently broke a tie with Katie Nyseth (1997-01) for second on WSU's all-time assists list, as she now has 407 career helpers. Molina is also second on the WSU all-time 3-point field goals made list with 164 career trifectas.

LOGGING THE MINUTES
Seniors Chanelle Molina and Borislava Hristova have been putting on the miles this season, as the duo are one-and-two in minutes played this season in the Pac-12. Molina has logged a conference-best 843 minutes this season, while Hristova put in the second-most minutes for the Cougs with 805 minutes put onto the court.

No player in Washington State women's basketball history has played more minutes than Hristova, as she has logged a program-best 3,697 minutes played during her 120-game career. Meanwhile, Molina's 3,168 minutes played in a Cougar uniform puts her at No. 6 on the program's all-time list.

SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE
The Sun Devils come into this weekend looking to snap a three-game skid that has left them with a 16-8 overall record on the year, while ASU holds an even 6-6 record in Pac-12 games. Despite the three-game losing streak, Arizona State enters the week ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 24 in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll.

Senior Ja'Tavia Tapley leads the Sun Devils in scoring at 11.5 points per game. The forward tallied 20 points and eight rebounds against the Cougars back on Jan. 19. Fellow senior Robbi Ryan is second on the team in scoring at 10.7 points per game. She too scored 20 points against Washington State in Beasley back on Jan. 19.  As a team, Arizona State is averaging 65.5 points per game, as the Sun Devils are shooting 39.5% from the floor.

Defensively, ASU has been one of the premier teams in the league, as they are holding teams to 58.1 points per contest. Their opponent scoring average is fourth-best in the Pac-12, while their 39.1% opponent field goal percentage is eight-best in the conference.

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