WASHINGTON STATE (2-13, 1-1 WCC) vs. Portland (7-7, 1-1 WCC)
Friday, Jan. 2, 2026 // 6 p.m. PT
Portland, Ore. // Chile Center
Watch | ESPN+
Listen | WSUCougars.com/Pullman Radio KQQQ, 1150 AM (Steve Grubbs pXp)
Live Stats | Statbroadcast


Washington State women's basketball travels to Portland to take on the Pilots on Friday, Jan. 2 at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with Bryan Sleik and Jennifer Mountain on the call.

NEXT UP
The Cougars will ride north up I-5 to play Seattle U on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
WSU is 1-1 in West Coast Conference play after a difficult non-conference slate, and a few key injuries, put the team at 1-12 entering WCC competition. Two games into the season, starting center and leading shot blocker Alex Covill had a foot injury and missed 11 games, and then sustained a broken nose in the third quarter of her first game back (12/28). Transfer forward Lauren Glazier missed the first eight games of the season, also with a foot. Starting guard and leading scorer Eleonora Villa was banged up early on with recurring cramps in a pair of games, which resulted in some limited minutes.

On top of that, the difficult 13-game non-conference schedule included No. 5 LSU, (RV) Stanford, (RV) Texas Tech, Oregon, Missouri, BYU, UNLV, Seton Hall and Penn. As of Dec. 28, all nine of these teams that WSU faced are top 100 in the NET Rankings, five are top 50, and three are top 25 with LSU (5), Texas Tech (21) and Oregon (25), and Stanford just outside at 31.

RECORD BOOK CLIMBERS AND MILESTONE CHASERS
>> Eleonora Villa has 1,188 career points, T-15th all-time in program history and 100 from moving up to 14th.
>> Villa has 121 career made threes, 12 away from joining the WSU all-time top 10 list.
>> Villa also has made 470 career field goals, 30 from 500.
>> At 2,840 career minutes played, Villa is 160 away from 3,000 and 483 from top 10 all-time at WSU.
>> Alex Covill has 118 career blocks, seventh all-time in program history.
>> Covill also has 200 career rebounds, 50 away from 250, and 341 career points, 159 from 500.
>> Charlotte Abraham has 339 career points, 161 away from 500.
>> Abraham also has 98 rebounds this season, 2 shy of 100, and 185 career rebounds, 65 from 250.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 12th meeting all-time between Washington State and Portland. Portland leads the all-time series, 9-2, with WSU's last win coming on Dec. 7, 2022 at Portland. WSU has lost each of the last three meetings since, including their most recent game in last year's WCC Tournament, a 57-72 win on Mar. 9, 2025.

ELEONORA È ECCELLENTE!
Eleonora Villa has taken another step forward in her game this year, becoming one of the more dominant players in the nation. Among national ranks, the junior guard is ninth in field goal attempts (225), 16th in total points scored (261), 17th in made field goals (103) and 67th in points per game (17.4). In the WCC she ranks first in field goal attempts, and second in total points, points per game, and made field goals.

HOW RUUD
True Freshman Malia Ruud has burst onto the scene early, averaging 10.3 points over 28.8 minutes per game, including an impressive game-high 11 points against Stanford (11/14) and a career-best 19 against Oregon (11/19). She is 63-of-136 from the field, shooting 46.3 percent with 54 rebounds, 11 blocks and 12 steals this season.

Ruud's .463 field goal percentage (63-136) is 10th in the nation among all freshmen with 63 or more made field goals, and ninth among all true freshmen.

HOT START FOR KOORITS
Redshirt freshman Keandra Koorits scored 23 points in her WSU debut on Nov. 3, the most by a WSU freshman since Charlisse Leger-Walker (23 pts, 1/1/21). Koorits inaugural performance is also good for the fourth-most points in a freshman debut in program history, and the most since Lia Galdeira scored 33 at Minnesota in her debut on 11/10/12. Galdiera's 33 points stands as the most in program history both by a freshman, and in a debut.

YOUNGEST IN THE FAMILY
Freshman guard Malvina Haziri from Kosovo is the youngest active player in NCAA Division I basketball. After beginning her freshman season at the young age of 16 years old, she just recently turned 17 on Dec. 30, 2025.

PRESEASON POLL
The Cougs were picked to finish third by the WCC coaches and media this year, the second-best conference preseason pick in program history after being picked second ahead of last year's 2024-25 second-place prediction. Prior to that WSU was picked fifth in 2023-24 (Pac-12) and 1991-92 (Pac-10).

ETHRIDGE INKS EXTENSION
WSU Athletics announced on March 4 that Head Coach Kamie Ethridge has signed a one-year contract extension keeping her in Pullman through the 2030-31 season.

Single-game tickets for the 2025 women's basketball season are on sale now. Fans wishing to purchase tickets can click on the link HERE, visit wsucougars.com to order online, or call the WSU Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-COUGS.

For all the latest WSU women's basketball news, photos and videos, like the team on Facebook (facebook.com/WSUCougarWBB), or follow on Twitter (@WSUCougarWBB) and Instagram (@wsucougarwbb).