WASHINGTON STATE (3-15, 2-3 WCC) vs. Santa Clara (14-4, 4-1 WCC)
Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026 // 12 p.m. PT
Pullman, Wash. // Beasley Coliseum
Watch | ESPN+
Listen | WSUCougars.com/Pullman Radio KQQQ, 1150 AM (Steve Grubbs pXp)
Live Stats | Statbroadcast

Washington State women's basketball is hosting Santa Clara on Saturday, Jan. 10 at noon. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with Trevor Williams and Mary Murphy on the call.

NEXT UP
The Cougars will then look ahead to next weekend's road-home split, starting in Moraga, Calif. at Saint Mary's on Thursday, Jan. 15 at 6:30 p.m. before returning home to host San Francisco on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
WSU is 2-3 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. Starting center and leading shot blocker Alex Covill missed 13 games while transfer forward Lauren Glazier missed time early in the season, and starting guard and leading scorer Eleonora Villa was held to limited minutes in a pair of games due to lingering cramps.

On top of that, the difficult 13-game non-conference schedule included No. 5 LSU, (RV) Stanford, (RV) Texas Tech, Oregon, Missouri, BYU, UNLV, and Seton Hall. As of Jan. 5, all eight of these teams that WSU faced are top 100 in the NET Rankings, six are top 50, and two are top 25 with LSU (5) and Texas Tech (20), and Oregon (26) and Stanford (33) just outside.

RECORD BOOK CLIMBERS AND MILESTONE CHASERS
>> Eleonora Villa has 1,240 career points, 15th all-time in program history and 48 from moving up to 14th (1,288).
>> Villa has 124 career made threes, 9 away from joining the WSU all-time top 10 list.
>> Villa also has made 490 career field goals, 10 from 500.
>> At 2,949 career minutes played, Villa is 51 away from 3,000 and 374 from top 10 all-time at WSU (3,323).
>> Alex Covill has 127 career blocks, seventh all-time in program history and 8 blocks shy of sixth (135).
>> Covill also has 214 career rebounds, 36 away from 250, and 373 career points, 127 from 500.
>> Charlotte Abraham has 360 career points, 140 away from 500.
>> Abraham has 120 rebounds this season, 117 away from top-10 all-time at WSU in a single-season
>> Abraham's 207 career rebounds puts her 43 shy of 250.

SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series is tied 5-5 between WSU and SCU, with the Cougars winning the most recent matchup last year in Santa Clara, 74-47. Prior to last season's WCC play, the two programs had last met in the 2024 WBIT, seeing the Cougs win 73-47 for their first win over the Broncos since 1985.

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 12th in field goal attempts (261), 18th in made field goals (123), 20th in total points scored (313) and 68th in points per game (17.4). In the WCC she ranks first in made field goals and field goal attempts, and second in total points and points per game.

HOW RUUD
True Freshman Malia Ruud has burst onto the scene early, averaging 9.8 points over 28.0 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 73-of-159 from the field, shooting 45.9 percent with 65 rebounds, 11 blocks and 13 steals this season.

Entering Friday, Ruud's .459 field goal percentage (73-159) is 12th in the nation among all freshmen with 73 or more made field goals, and 9th 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, 2025 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).