LAS VEGAS – It's déjà vu all over again for the Washington State women's basketball in the first round of the 2020 Pac-12 Conference Tournament, as the No. 11-seeded Cougars will challenge No. 6-seed Oregon State for the second time in five days this Thursday, March 5, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Tip-off against the Beavers is set for 8:30 p.m. PT and will air live on the Pac-12 Network.

WASHINGTON STATE (11-19, 4-14)
No. 14/15 Oregon State (22-8, 10-8) | Thursday, March 5 | 8:30 p.m. PT | Mandalay Bay Events Center
  Tournament Page | Click Here
  Live Stats | WSUCougars.com
  Watch | Pac-12 Network (Krista Blunk and Mary Murphy)
  Listen | WSU IMG Radio Network (Steve Grubbs)
  Game Notes | Click Here (PDF)

STARTING FIVE
-> Washington State earned the No. 11 seed in the 2020 Pac-12 Conference Tournament by finishing the conference regular season with a 4-14 record. WSU rounded out the 2019-20 regular season with an 11-19 overall record. The 11 victories mark a two-win improvement for the Cougs from year one to year two under head coach Kamie Ethridge.

-> WSU will see a familiar foe in the first round of the 2020 Pac-12 Tournament, as they played Oregon State this past Sunday, March 1, at Gill Coliseum to closeout the 2019-20 regular season. The Cougars took a one-point lead into the locker room in Corvallis, but the No. 14/15-ranked Beavers rallied over the final two quarters to claim a 73-58 victory. The winner of Thursday's first round contest will play No 3-seed Stanford on Friday, March 6, at 8:30 p.m. PT in Las Vegas.

-> This will be the 19th appearance in the Pac-12 Tournament for Washington State. The Cougars are 7-18 all-time in the conference tournament, but have dropped three-straight contests in the postseason tournament. The last victory came during the first round of 2017 Pac-12 Tournament, as the No. 7-seeded Cougs knocked off 10-seed Colorado, 79-78, in Seattle on March 2, 2017. WSU has won at least one game in the Pac-12 Tournament in five of the last eight seasons.

-> The No. 11 seed has proved to be fruitful for Washington State in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Cougars have only been in the 11 slot in the conference tournament just once in program history, which came in the 2012 edition of the tournament. WSU was able to advance to the semifinals that year, as the Cougs collected a pair of upsets over No. 6-seed Oregon State (65-56) and No. 3-seed USC (69-55) before falling to No. 2-seed California (64-49) in the semis.

-> Redshirt senior Borislava Hristova enters her final Pac-12 Tournament looking to break into the top-10 on the Pac-12 women's basketball all-time scoring list. Bobi Buckets currently stands in 11th place on the all-time list with 2,250 career points. Washington State's all-time leading scorer needs 28 points to move past Washington's Jazmine Davis (2012-15), who currently occupies the 10th slot with 2,277 career points.

THE TOURNAMENT BRACKET

TICKETS
Fans looking to purchase tickets to the 2020 Pac-12 Conference Tournament can do so by clicking the link here.

LAST TIME OUT
The Cougars shot a blistering 64% from the floor over the first 20 minutes of play at No. 14/15 Oregon State, but WSU went cold in the second half, as the Cougars closed out the 2019-20 regular season with a 73-58 loss to the Beavers.

Washington State had a season-high four players register double-digits in the scoring column in the regular season finale, led by sophomore Ula Motuga's 13-point performance. Redshirt senior Borislava Hristova, redshirt junior Jovana Subasic and sophomore Cherilyn Molina each tallied 12 points in the loss. The 12-point outing for Molina established a new career high for the point guard.

WASHINGTON STATE AT THE PAC-12 TOURNAMENT
The Cougars enter the 2020 Pac-12 Tournament as the No. 11 seed. It is the second time in program history that WSU has held the No. 11 slot in the field, with the previous occasion taking place during the 2012 tournament. Washington State's first-ever victory in the Pac-12 Tournament came as an 11-seed, as they knocked off Oregon State, 65-56, in the first round in Los Angeles.

Washington State holds a 7-18 overall record in the Pac-12 Tournament, with wins coming during the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 tournaments. WSU claimed the No. 10 seed last season and fell to No. 7-seeded Cal, 77-58, in Las Vegas. WSU has never been higher than the No. 7 seed at the Pac-12 Tournament in program history.

The best finish at the Pac-12 Tournament for Washington State came during the 2012 and 2014 seasons, when they advanced all the way out of the first round to the semifinals in both tournaments.

Lia Galderia has been the most impressive player for Washington State at the Pac-12 Tournament, as the former Coug great registered three Pac-12 Tournament games with 28-or-more points, and holds the school record for most points in a game with 34 points in a 66-64 win against Oregon in the first round back on March 5, 2015 in Seattle.

HRISTOVA & MOLINA ALL-CONFERENCE NODS
Seniors Borislava Hristova and Chanelle Molina both represented the Cougars on the 2019-20 Pac-12 All-Conference teams. Hristova earned her third-straight All-Pac-12 selection to go along with an All-Pac-12 media honor, while Molina registered her second-consecutive All-Pac-12 honorable mention nod, as well as All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honorable mention selection.

The duo made up 51% of scoring for Washington State this season, as Hristova averaged 18.4 points in the regular season, while Molina chipped in 14.8 points a contest. Hristova's finished the regular season leading the Pac-12 in points scored with 551, which is the seventh-most points scored in a regular season in WSU history. Molina also averaged a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game and 4.2 assists per game.

No other player in the Pac-12 logged more minutes this season than Molina and Hristova, as Chanelle averaged 35.7 minutes per game, while Bobi Buckets logged 34.2 minutes per contest.

CLOSING OUT WITH RANKED OPPONENTS
The continuous theme of the 2019-20 regular season for the Washington State women's basketball team has been the high-volume of games against ranked foes. That narrative continues on into the postseason for the Cougars, as they will challenge No. 14/15 Oregon State in the first round, with the No. 7/8 Stanford awaiting the winner of Thursday's contest in the quarterfinals.

WSU has played a school-record 14 games this season against teams ranked in either the Associated Press or USA Today/WBCA Coaches Polls. No team in the country has played more ranked opponents this season than the Cougars, however they are still seeking their first win over a top-25 foe this season.

LIL' MOLINA PLAYING BIG
Sophomore Cherilyn Molina, who is the youngest of WSU's three Molina sister, registered her first career start on March 1 at Oregon State and responded with a career-best outing. The point guard scored a career-high 12 points against the Beavers, which marked the first double-digit scoring performance for Molina in 59 career games at Washington State.

SCOUTING OREGON STATE
The Beavers come into the Pac-12 Tournament as the field's No. 6 seed. Oregon State went 22-8 overall on the year and finished the Pac-12 regular season with a 10-8 mark. OSU enters the week ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 15 in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll.

As a team, Oregon State averages 71.9 points per game on a 46.4% shooting percentage. All-Pac-12 selections Destiny Slocum and Mikayla Pivec lead the charge for the Beavers offensively, as they average 15.1 and 14.9 pointer points per game, respectively.

OSU has been one of the most aggressive teams on defense this season in the Pac-12, as opponents are only hitting 35.1% of their shots from the field against the Beavers, while Oregon State is holding the opposition to 58.2 points per contest.

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