Washington State University Athletics

January 27 (4:19 p.m.)

Free Tuition For A Semester Promotion!

Attention all WSU Pullman Campus students. Want to win free tuition for a semester?

At five Women's Basketball home games this season, one random student will have the opportunity to win the equivalent of one semester's in-state tuition, or $3,400.

All you have to do is be at the game! If your name is drawn you will have 60 seconds to make your way down to Friel Court with your WSU Student ID and claim your prize. That's right! No half court shot, no registration, no strings attached - all you have to do is be at the game and walk down to center court in less than 60 seconds and prove who you are. This promotion is open to all WSU Pullman campus students.

Game Dates:
1/29 vs. Arizona (7 p.m.)
2/6 vs. Stanford (7 p.m.)
2/20 vs. USC (7 p.m.)
2/22 vs. UCLA (1 p.m.)
3/6 vs. Washington (7 p.m.)

January 27 (10:39 a.m.)

Captain's Corner...

Before we get to Katie Appleton's weekly blog entry, I wanted to wish her congratulations on becoming WSU's all-time leader in career 3-pointers last week. I also wanted to invite everyone out to this weekend's series to watch her make a run at 1,000 career points.

Katie currently had 992 points, only eight points shy of 1,000. I'm not going to jinx anything by saying when she will surpass 1,000, but she is averaging 9.9 points per game...

...

Coug Fans,

Despite our two losses this weekend, our team can take away some positives from the games. Both scores didn't reflect how close each of the games actually were for the majority of the games. Basketball is a game of runs, and we handled a few powerful runs very well during the weekend by both the Bruins and the Trojans.

One thing that our team has done well consistently is maintain heart throughout the game, no matter what the score. At the beginning of the season, the coaches told us to play every possession, not the score. People who have seen us play know that we play hard and with passion. Before the game against USC, Coach Mike told us that several people have come up to him and the rest of the staff and complimented our improvement and the way we play. He told us that people want to see players leave everything they have on the court.

Coach Tony Bennett came to our practice last week and talked to us about establishing an identity in the way we play. He tells his team that they must embrace the fact that they are the underdogs in most situations. This gives them a common belief that they must be fighters who play with an enormous amount of heart and focus every possession. Both the men's and women's programs are in similar situations this season so it was good for us to hear him talk about these things. We were thankful that Coach Tony took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about establishing this identity. We all felt a renewed sense of enthusiasm about being the foundation of this program and creating our own program's identity.

We are home for two weekends in a row...finally! It was a good feeling when we arrived in Pullman around 2 a.m. Sunday morning that we can actually unpack our suitcases this time, rather than keep living out of it until the next road trip. We are all looking forward to playing in front of our home crowd in Beasley. We look forward to seeing you at the games! Wear your crimson!

Go Cougs,

Katie

January 26 (3:57 p.m.)

This Week's Schedule...

No practice today, but here is the schedule for the rest of the week...

Tuesday - 4-6 p.m. (Beasley)
Wednesday - 2-4:30 p.m. (Beasley)
Thursday - GAME #19 vs. Arizona State (7 p.m. - Friel Court)
Friday - Practice 2-4:30 p.m. (Beasley)
Saturday - GAME #20 vs. Arizona (2 p.m. - Friel Court)
Sunday - Off

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 24 (12:45 p.m.)

The Battle...

Sister vs. Sister. Danielle vs. Camille. Only about 15 minutes left until the first of two meetings between the LeNoir sisters this year...

Danielle and Camille have never played on the same court during their careers, and the LeNoir family is here in full force. Not quite sure who made them up, but they are all wearing t-shirts with photos of each of the sisters.

Another thing to watch out for today...Senior guard Katie Appleton is only 16 points shy of reaching 1,000 for her career.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 23 (5:45 p.m.)

Battle of the LeNoirs...

Well, Thursday wasn't what the team was hoping for against UCLA. However, the Cougar women have one more shot to pick up a win on the road, in a game I am going to call the Battle of the LeNoirs...

NOTE OF THE WEEK
When the Cougars take on the Trojans, it will mark the first time sisters Danielle and Camille LeNoir will have played with or against each other during their playing careers. Danielle, a Cougar freshman, was in eighth grade when Camille, a Trojan senior, was a senior in high school. Both graduated from Narbonne High in Los Angeles.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS...
WSU is coming off an 83-48 defeat to UCLA this past Thursday at Pauley Pavilion. Senior guard Katie Appleton became WSU's all-time leader in career 3-pointers, hitting four against the Bruins to bring her career total to 145.

WSU boasts four players who have started every game this season: Appleton, freshman guard April Cook, freshman guard Jazmine Perkins and freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski. Senior forward/center Heather Molzen has started each of the last 13 games for the Cougars.

Perkins (14.5 ppg) and Cook (13.2 ppg) lead WSU in scoring, and are the top two freshmen scorers in the Pac-10. Appleton is also scoring in double figures at 10.0 ppg, and needs only 16 points to become the 12th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.

Tarnowski leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 5.7 boards per game - a mark that ranks fifth all-time amongst WSU freshmen.

After tying the school single-game record this past week with six blocks against Oregon State, senior center Ebonee Coates ranks eighth in the Pac-10 with 0.9 per game. She has recorded at least one block in each of the last seven games.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS...
USC knocked off Washington 90-82 this past Thursday at Galen Center, and is now 7-1 on their home floor this season. The team's only home loss came to Duke, which is currently ranked fourth in the Associated Press top 25. The Trojans fell to the Blue Devils 97-89 in overtime.

The Trojans have four players scoring in double figures, led by senior guard Camille LeNoir - the older sister of Cougar freshman Danielle. The elder sister is scoring 11.9 ppg for USC, and also leads the team and ranks sixth in the conference with 3.4 assists per game.

Also scoring in double figures are freshman forward Briana Gilbreath (11.5 ppg), senior center Nadia Parker (11.3 ppg) and freshman guard Ashley Corral (10.1 ppg).

Parker leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 6.2 boards per game. She also leads the team in blocks at 1.7 per game, ranking second in the Pac-10.

The Trojans are the second-highest scoring team in the conference at 75.1 ppg, but rank second-to-last in scoring defense, allowing opponents 68.9 ppg.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 22 (11:41 a.m.)

It's Wet, But It's Warm...

It is pretty warm here in Los Angeles, but it was raining this morning. No matter...Basketball is played indoors, and I have to finish some work anyway.

Lets check in with Katie Appleton...

Coug Fans,

We are in the full swing of things academically. I have already had my first test and we are in the second week of school! Learning how to balance homework, basketball commitments and a social life is something that takes time. It's all about prioritizing and setting attainable goals throughout the semester. As a senior, I have had plenty of practice, but there are still those days when there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done.

We are off to warm weather this week and headed for a place where there will be plenty of Cougar fans. Several of my teammates have family attending the UCLA and USC games, including mine! We always look forward to getting to spend some time with our families.

This trip will be especially fun for Dani because she will get to play against her sister in the USC game. I have heard rumors that their family may have special shirts made up in support of both WSU and USC. What an awesome experience for both sisters!

Go Cougs!

Katie

January 20 (1:59 p.m.)

Weekly Release...

Click HERE to read all of the pertinent information, and click HERE to read the game notes in their entirety.

NOTE OF THE WEEK
If the Cougars can knock off the Bruins Thursday, it will mark the first road victory over UCLA in school history.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS... WSU split last week with the Oregon schools, knocking off Oregon State 65-62 and falling to Oregon 57-41.

The Cougars boast four players who have started every game this season: senior guard Katie Appleton, freshman guard April Cook, freshman guard Jazmine Perkins and freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski. Senior forward/center Heather Molzen has started each of the last 12 games for the Cougars.

Perkins (14.6 ppg) and Cook (13.6 ppg) lead WSU in scoring, and are the top two freshmen scorers in the Pac-10. Appleton is scoring 9.8 ppg, and needs only 29 points to become the 12th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.

Tarnowski leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 5.9 boards per game - a mark that ranks tied for fourth all-time amongst WSU freshmen (Angie Miller; 1988).

After tying the school single-game record this past week with six blocks against Oregon State, senior center Ebonee Coates ranks tied for ninth in the Pac-10 with 0.9 per game. She has recorded at least one block in each of the last six games.

SCOUTING THE BRUINS...
UCLA split last week against the Arizona schools, falling at Arizona State 68-44 and then winning at Arizona 48-38.

The Bruins enter Thursday's game with a record of 12-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference. In addition to last week's conference victory over Arizona, the Bruins have defeated Oregon State (60-53) and USC (87-75). UCLA also fell at home to Oregon (73-56).

Sophomore guard Doreena Campbell is UCLA's lone double-digit scorer, ranking 10th in the conference at 12.4 ppg. She also ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in assists, averaging 3.8 per game.

Senior forward/center Chinyere Ibekwe leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 8.1 boards per game. The mark ranks tied for third in the league.

Sophomore forward Christina Nzekwe leads the team in steals, averaging 1.6 per game.

As a team the Bruins rank fourth in the Pac-10 in scoring offense (70.6 ppg), and fifth in scoring defense (60.9 ppg). UCLA leads the Pac-10 in rebounding margin, pulling down 11.8 more boards per game than their opponents.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 16 (2:03 p.m.)

Oregon on Tap...

That was a nice win last night, and the drum line during the pregame introductions was a nice addition...

I did a bit of research today, and with the help of Jim Wright at the NCAA I was able to find out that Jazmine Perkins' 15.0 points per game rank fourth nationally amongst freshmen. I included the note in the weekly release...

To view the pertinent information on Saturday's game against Oregon, click HERE. To view the game notes in their entirety, click HERE.

STAT OF THE WEEK
If the Cougars can notch a victory over Oregon, it will mark the first weekend sweep since 2001-02, when WSU defeated USC (79-78; Jan.4) and UCLA (74-52; Jan. 6) in the opening week of conference play. The last time WSU swept the Oregon schools was in 1995-96, when the Cougars were victorious 72-59 over Oregon (Jan. 11) and 64-63 over Oregon State (Jan. 13).

Scouting the Cougars...
WSU is coming off of a 65-52 victory over Oregon State Thursday night in the Cougars' Pacific-10 Conference home opener. Freshman guard Jazmine Perkins led the Cougars with a game-high 21 points, her second 20-point game this season.

Senior guard Katie Appleton scored 14 points against the Beavers, and is now only 29 points shy of reaching 1,000 for her career. She is also only three 3-pointers away from becoming WSU's all-time leader in career 3-pointers.

Senior center Ebonee Coates tied the school single-game record with six blocked shots against OSU, moving into third place on the WSU career blocks list with 85.

As a team the Cougars blocked nine shots, one off the school record and the most since also recording nine against Idaho, Feb. 27, 2003. WSU also forced 24 turnovers, the eighth opponent this season to record 20-plus against the Cougars, and held the Beavers to 31 percent shooting (18-of-58), the lowest shooting percentage by a Cougar opponent this season.

Perkins leads the team in scoring this season at 15.0 points per game, a mark that ranks tied for third in the Pac-10. Fellow freshman April Cook ranks seventh in the conference at 13.7 ppg. The duo rank first and second, respectively, in scoring average amongst Pac-10 freshmen. Appleton is also scoring in double figures for WSU, chipping in 10.5 ppg.

Freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 6.1 boards per game.

Scouting the Ducks...
The Ducks knocked off Washington 75-55 in Seattle Thursday night. Junior guard Taylor Lilley led Oregon with a season-high 24 points, and fellow junior guard Micaela Cocks added 19 points. The duo combined to shoot 12-of-26 from the floor and 6-of-11 from three-point range. Lilley also tied a career high with a game-high seven assists playing all 40 minutes.

Oregon shot 48.1 percent from the floor against the Huskies, but committed 25 turnovers on the game.

Oregon's 3-2 start to the Pac-10 season is its best since 2004-05, when the team picked up wins over Stanford, California and Oregon State in its first five conference games. Oregon also has wins at UCLA (73-56) and at home against Arizona (68-55) this season.

Cocks has been the Ducks' biggest scoring threat this season, scoring an average of 15.0 points per game. The mark ranks tied for third in the Pac-10. Lilley is also scoring in double figures for the Ducks, chipping in 11.1 ppg. Lilley also leads the team in assists, averaging 3.8 per game.

Sophomore forward Ellie Manou and freshman forward Amanda Johnson lead the team in rebounding, with each pulling down 4.9 boards per game. Johnson and freshman forward Jasmin Holliday lead the Ducks with 1.5 steals per game.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 15 (2:23 p.m.)

Shootaround and a Surprise Tonight...

The WSU women are currently at Friel Court for shootaround, preparing for tonight's game against Oregon State.

Along with all of the other marketing promotions surrounding a women's basketball game, tonight is $1 popcorn night for the first 500 fans in attendance. Be sure to get there early to take advantage...

In addition to $1 popcorn night, the team will be unveiling a new addition to the pre-game festivities. The surprise has been spoiled elsewhere, but if you are unaware, you are going to want to be there for player introductions. I have never seen anything of its kind at a women's basketball game...

Hope to see you tonight...

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 14 (12:55 p.m.)

Captain's Corner...

Coug Fans,

We have a big week ahead of us. This week marks the home opener for the Pac-10 season. We are all really excited to play in front of our crowd and to have the Zzu Cru back in town. It was good to get two road trips done during the break. Having home games this week gives us a chance to get acclimated with our new classes and get organized academically for the start of the semester.

While it was nice to have a bit of a break academically, I was ready to get this semester underway. I had an unusual feeling walking into my classes these first few days. I realized that this will be my last first day of class ever (at least as an undergraduate student). It is amazing how fast time has passed. I remember speaking with Kate Benz, a former WSU basketball player, when she was starting her last semester of college. I was only a sophomore at the time and she expressed how fast time had gone for her. I didn't understand how right she was until now.

We are looking forward to playing the Oregon schools this week. We have a lot of confidence going into this weekend. We played against two of the toughest teams in the country last week and have learned some valuable lessons. Coach June told us that as long as we learned from those games and apply that information to practices and the upcoming games, we will improve. We are so close to playing up to our potential; we just have to keep working and learning.

Come out and watch our Pac-10 home openers!

Go Cougs,

Katie Appleton

January 13 (1:54 p.m.)

Weekly Release and Some TV Info...

Remember when I told you all about the upcoming TV schedule? Well, there have been some changes...

The Cougars' home games against both USC (Feb. 20) and Washington (March 6) will each be televised by Fox Sports Northwest. Tip-off against both the Trojans and Huskies will still be at 7 p.m.

Now...on to the release...

To take a look at all the pertinent information for the game against the Beavers, click HERE.

STAT OF THE WEEK
We have talked a lot about the scoring output of this year's freshmen, but there is more to this year's class than just scoring. Freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski's rebounding average of 6.0 per game currently ranks tied for third (Kristal Stahl; 1989) on the WSU all-time frosh list. Only Jonni Gray (7.5 rpg; 1986) and Kate Benz (6.7 rpg; 2004) had better rebounding averages during their freshmen seasons.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS...
The Cougars have had four players start all 14 games this season, three of which are averaging double figures in scoring: freshman guard Jazmine Perkins leads the squad and ranks tied for fourth in the Pac-10 with 14.6 points per game; fellow freshman guard April Cook isn't far behind at 13.7 ppg - ranking seventh in the conference; and senior guard Katie Appleton is posting 10.2 ppg.

Freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski has also started all 14 games, and is chipping in 9.7 ppg. Tarnowski is averaging a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game.

Senior forward/center Heather Molzen has started each of the last 10 games, and is scoring 8.3 ppg and pulling down 5.8 rpg. She leads the Cougars with two double-doubles this season.

Perkins is also the team leader in steals (2.5), ranking second in the conference, and assists (3.0).

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS...
The Beavers enter Thursday's meeting with three players scoring in double figures: sophomore guard Talisa Rhea (14.6 ppg), sophomore center Alex Mitchell (12.5 ppg) and senior guard Brittney Davis (11.4 ppg).

Rhea, who ranks tied for fourth in the conference in scoring average, is also one the top 3-point shooters in the Pac-10. Rhea ranks second in 3-point field goals made per game (2.5) and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (.361).

Senior center Tiffany Ducker leads the Beavers in rebounding, pulling down 6.8 boards per game. The mark ranks eighth in the Pac-10.

Cedes Fox-Griffin leads the team in assists (4.4), ranking second in the conference, and steals (1.6), ranking tied for seventh in the Pac-10.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 12 (2:35 p.m.)

This Week's Schedule...

Here is this week's practice schedule:

12	2-5 p.m. (Beasley)
13	4-6 p.m. (Beasley)
14	2-5 p.m. (Beasley)
15	GAME #15 vs. Oregon State (7 p.m.)
16	2-5 p.m. (Beasley)
17	GAME #16 vs. Oregon (2 p.m.)
18	Off

Joe Nickell

January 9 (2:20 p.m.)

ESPN Link and a Stanford Preview...

Before we get to the match-up against seventh-ranked Stanford, I wanted to share an article with you posted today at ESPN.com.

Graham Hays wrote a story about the top freshmen in the country thus far, and WSU's young guns were mentioned as a collective whole. To read the article, click HERE. (NOTE: Katie Appleton is mentioned as a freshman, and I have sent an e-mail. I imagine it's a major undertaking evaluating the nation's entire crop of freshmen.)

Now...on to the game against Stanford. To read all of the pertinent information, click HERE, or to read the entire 29-page release in its entirety, click HERE.

STAT OF THE WEEK
The Cougars currently rank first in the Pac-10 in turnover margin at +5.8. WSU's mark is 2.1 turnovers per game ahead of second-place Arizona State (+3.7). The mark also ranks 17th in the nation.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS...
The Cougars have had four players start all 13 games this season, three of which are averaging double figures in scoring. Freshman Jazmine Perkins leads the squad and ranks fourth in the Pac-10 with 14.6 points per game. Fellow freshman guard April Cook isn't far behind at 13.7 ppg - ranking seventh in the conference. Senior guard Katie Appleton is posting 10.8 ppg.

Freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski has also started all 13 games, and is chipping in 9.7 ppg. Tarnowski is averaging a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game.

Senior forward/center Heather Molzen has started each of the last nine games, and is scoring 8.6 ppg and pulling down 6.0 rpg. She leads the Cougars with two double-doubles this season.

WSU is coming off a 68-45 defeat at the hands of the ninth-ranked California Golden Bears, Thursday at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif.

SCOUTING THE CARDINAL...
Stanford (No. 7) boasts five different players scoring in double figures, including junior forward/center Jayne Appel, who ranks fifth in the conference at 14.3 points per game. She is nearly averaging a double-double, posting a team-best 9.9 rebounds per game. The mark ranks second in the Pac-10.

Other Cardinal scoring in double figures include sophomore forward Kayla Pedersen (11.5 ppg), sophomore guard Jeanette Pohlen (10.7 ppg) and freshman forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike (10.0 ppg). Junior guard JJ Hones averaged 10.5 ppg in her first two games, but was lost for the season after tearing her ACL against Rutgers.

Stanford knocked off Washington 112-35 this past Thursday. The 77-point margin of victory over the Huskies is the largest in Pac-10 history.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 8 (6:33 p.m.)

It's Almost Game Time...

We have about half an hour until tip-off against ninth-ranked California. Head Coach June Daugherty has her Cougars back in the locker room as I am typing this from the currently-friendly confines of Haas Pavilion.

I imagine it is going to stay friendly, as there will be a number of Cougar supporters here tonight. While you listen to Steve Grubbs call the game live from Berkeley, listen for the background noise. You should hear plenty of cheering. I have seen Katie Appleton's mom. Jessica Oestreicher's parents are here. And I expect to see quite a contingent here in support of Berkeley's own Jazmine Perkins.

Assistant Coach Mo Hines had his hair cut today, and he went to a barber shop where they had photos of Jazmine all over the place. She is a local legend...

Back to work...

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 6 (12:58 p.m.)

Bay Area on Tap...

The Cougars have a couple ranked opponents on the docket this week. Thursday's game features WSU and the ninth-ranked Golden Bears of California, while Saturday's game will pit the Cougars against No. 7 Stanford.

To view the pertinent information on the match-up with California, click HERE. To view the release in its entirety, click HERE.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS...

The Cougars have had four players start all 12 games this season, and each is averaging double figures in scoring. Freshman Jazmine Perkins leads the squad and ranks tied for fourth in the Pac-10 with 14.7 points per game. Fellow freshman guard April Cook isn't far behind at 14.2 ppg - ranking sixth in the conference.

Senior guard Katie Appleton is posting 10.8 ppg, and freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski is chipping in 10.2 ppg. Tarnowski is averaging a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game.

Senior forward/center Heather Molzen has started each of the last eight games, and is scoring 9.2 ppg and pulling down 6.4 rpg. She leads the Cougars with two double-doubles this season.

This past week against Washington senior center Ebonee Coates came off the bench and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds - nine on the offensive end.

SCOUTING THE BEARS...

The ninth-ranked Golden Bears are coming off a weekend road sweep over the Arizona schools, knocking off the Wildcats 56-46 (Jan. 2) in Tucson and the Sun Devils 54-53 (Jan. 4) in Tempe.

California is led by senior forward Ashley Walker, who leads the conference in scoring at 21.5 points per game. Walker also leads the team in rebounding, ranking fifth in the Pac-10 at 7.9 boards per game, and steals, ranking sixth in the Pac-10 with 1.8 per game.

Also scoring in double figures is Alexis Gray-Lawson (12.2 ppg), who is leading the team in assists with 4.4 per game - a mark that ranks third in the Pac-10.

Natasha Vital is Cal's top 3-point threat, knocking down a conference-best 50 percent of her attempts (20-of-40).

STAT OF THE WEEK
With two more victories already in 2008-09 than in all of last season, the Cougars rank tied for sixth nationally amongst teams making the greatest turnarounds this season.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 5 (12:11 p.m.)

This Week's Schedule

The Cougars will only have a few days of practice in Pullman before hitting the road to the Bay Area for match-ups with California (Jan. 8) and Stanford (Jan. 10).

Monday - 1-4 p.m. (PEB)
Tuesday - 1-4 p.m. (PEB)
Wednesday - 8-10:30 a.m. (PEB)
Thursday - GAME #13 @ CAL - 7 p.m.
Friday - Practice @ Stanford
Saturday - GAME #14 @ STANFORD - 2 p.m.
Sunday - Off

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

January 2 (5:01 p.m.)

Sitting at Hec Ed...

Happy New Year everyone! I know, I know, it's already January 2...But it's better late than never...

The team is currently practicing at the UW campus in preparation for tomorrow's match-up with the Huskies. Legendary broadcast analyst and General Manager of the Phoenix Mercury Ann Meyers Drysdale is here, as are a number of Cougar fans.

The flight over was a quick one, and we were able to get out of Spokane just fine despite the dusting of snow.

Tomorrow's game will tip-off at Bank of America Arena in Seattle at 1:02 p.m. If you can't make it in person, you can watch it live on FSN.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 31 (10:49 a.m.)

Weekly Release and Some TV Info...

To view the complete version of this week's game notes, click HERE. And to view the pertinent information on the match-up against Washington, click HERE.

Before we move on, I wanted to bring you all up to speed on some television information. As hopefully you are all aware, this Saturday's game against the Huskies is being televised nationally by FSN. But that won't be your only opportunity to catch the Cougars on TV this year...

WSU's home game against Oregon (Jan. 17), and the road game at Oregon State (Feb. 14) will be televised by FSN Northwest. I will be sending this information out to the media tomorrow, but I wanted the Cougar faithful to hear it here first!

NOTE OF THE WEEK
Cougar freshmen Jazmine Perkins and April Cook each currently rank in the top 10 in scoring average in the Pacific-10 Conference, the highest-scoring freshmen in the league and the only freshmen ranked in the top 10. Perkins' 14.9 points per game currently ranks fifth on the list, while Cook's 13.9 ppg ranks seventh.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS...
The Cougars have started the same five players in each of the last seven games, and each starter is currently averaging double figures in scoring.

Freshman guard Jazmine Perkins leads the team and ranks fourth in the Pacific-10 Conference with 14.9 points per game, while freshman guard April Cook ranks seventh in the Pac-10 with 13.9 ppg. Senior guard Katie Appleton (11.3), freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski (10.2) and senior forward Heather Molzen (10.0) are also scoring 10-plus per game.

Molzen leads the team in rebounding at 7.0 boards per game, a mark that ranks eighth in the conference. Tarnowski's 6.5 rebounds per game rank ninth in the Pac-10.

Perkins leads the Cougars in both assists (3.3 per game) and steals (2.5 per game), ranking 10th and 2nd in the Pac-10, respectively.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES...
Washington also closed out its nonconference schedule with 18th-ranked Kansas State, losing 73-60 in Seattle to fall to 4-6 on the season.

UW is led by a pair of double-digit scorers in junior forward/center Laura McLellan (11.6 points per game) and junior guard/forward Sami Whitcomb (10.4 ppg).

Lydia Young leads the team in rebounding, averaging 4.8 rebounds per game, while sophomore guard Sarah Morton leads the squad in assists (2.3) and Whitcomb leads the Huskies in steals (2.3).

Washington entered the week ranked eighth in the conference in scoring offense at 65.7 points per game, and 10th in scoring defense, allowing 68.9 points per game.

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 30 (2:24 p.m.)

Captain's Corner...

Coug Fans,

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Other than that last game in Hawaii, I really enjoyed the trip. As soon as we made it to baggage claim in the airport in Hawaii, we were greeted by a group of Cougars. They presented our entire travel group with beautiful leis.

Lexxi Peterson and I both enjoyed our families, but because of the weather in Spokane, only half of my family actually made it to Hawaii. My parents and sister were already down in California and were able to make their flight. The other half was stuck in Spokane because their flight got cancelled that day. They didn't get to go on the trip at all! But it was good to hang out with my parents and sister during the trip.

Outside of practice, film and the games, our team went snorkeling, played on the beach, toured Pearl Harbor, ate at some great restaurants and did plenty of Christmas shopping. While most Cougar fans were facing harsh weather in Washington, we enjoyed the sunshine in Hawaii.

We had a good group of fans in attendance at the Hawaii games. A special thanks for the fans that brought our team leis after that first game. On a personal note, special thanks for the words of encouragement and support from those fans.

On to the Kansas State game. For those of you who attended or listened to the game, you already know this, but it was a closer game than what the end score reflected. We played well for about 32 minutes. We went through a period in the second half where we didn't hit a few shots and they capitalized. They were a great team and we played pretty well against them. Playing them right before Pac-10s will help prepare us for our first conference game.

The start of conference play is like the start of a new season. Everyone wipes their slate clean and starts from scratch. We will take the things we have learned, and the confidence gained to test it against the rest of the Pac-10 teams.

Up next on the schedule...UW. This is an important game for our program. The returners have been telling the freshmen since the summer how important this game is for the program. Everyone has a good understanding of what the game means to Cougar faithful. I'm glad that we start out the Pac-10 season playing UW at their house. It's a great opportunity. I'm anxious to see all the Crimson in that arena this year!

Go Cougs!

Katie

December 29 (4:02 p.m.)

This Week's Schedule

Hopefully you all had a good Holiday...Here is a look at this week's practice schedule:

Monday - Off
Tuesday - 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (PEB)
Wednesday - 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (PEB)
Thursday - 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (PEB)
Friday - Depart for Seattle
Saturday - GAME # 12 @ Washington (1 p.m.)
Sunday - Off

For all of you who cannot attend Saturday's Pacific-10 Conference opener at Washington, the game will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 24 (2:45 p.m.)

Nationally-Ranked Foe on Tap...

The team is back from Hawaii, and nearly everyone is home for the holidays. Me? I am home, and though it is nice to see family and friends, I am missing the warmth of the islands...

Everyone will be back in Pullman the day after Christmas, getting back to the grind and preparing for nationally-ranked Kansas State. The Wildcats are ranked No. 22 in the AP poll and No. 18 in the coaches' poll.

To view this week's release in its entirety, click HERE. To read the pertinent information, click HERE.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS...
Four Cougars have started each of WSU's first 10 games of the 2008-09 season, and each of them are scoring in double figures: freshman guard Jazmine Perkins (14.6), freshman guard April Cook (14.3), senior guard Katie Appleton (12.4) and freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski (10.2).

Senior forward/center Heather Molzen has started each of the last six games, and is averaging 9.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game this season. The rebounding total is tied with Tarnowski for the team lead.

Perkins leads the team in both assists (3.6) and steals (2.8). In WSU's last game against Hawaii, Perkins recorded seven steals, tying the school single-game record for a freshman.

The Cougars' seven nonconference wins this season are the most since recording nine during the 1995-96 season.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS...
Kansas State enters Sunday's game a perfect 10-0 on the season and ranked in both polls - 22nd in the AP poll and 18th in the coaches' poll.

The Wildcats boast a trio of players scoring in double figures: junior forward Ashley Sweat (14.1), senior forward Marlies Gipson (13.4) and senior guard Shalee Lehning (11.4).

Lehning is also the team's top rebounder, pulling down 7.6 boards per game, and the team leader in assists (8.8 per game) and steals (2.0) per game. Her assist average ranks first in the nation.

Gipson is averaging 3.8 blocks per game, a mark that leads the team and ranks fourth nationally.

Kansas State ranks second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing opponents only 48.7 points per game.

Happy Holidays and Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 20 (7:35 p.m. - HAWAII TIME!!)

Checking in From the Aloha State...

After notching the first win yesterday, the Cougars will be looking to make it two wins over the Rainbow Wahine before heading home for Christmas.

It hasn't been all business - though the team has practiced every day since arriving. We went to a luau the first night and went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay this afternoon. The team is headed to the North Shore tomorrow afternoon to watch some surfing.

Nikki Stratton has been taking photos since we got here, so I will be posting a gallery once we get back.

Back to business...Here are some excerpts from the release heading into Monday's game...

For the complete release, click HERE.

FIRST GLANCE
The Washington State women's basketball team (7-2) squares off against Hawaii (2-8) for the second time in four days Monday (Dec. 22) at the Stan Sheriff Center. Tip-off against the Rainbow Wahine is scheduled for 7 p.m. (PT).

THE SERIES
The Cougars and Rainbow Wahine have met five times on the hardwood, with the Cougars notching their first win this past Friday. Each of the four games have also been played on the islands.

NOTE OF THE WEEK
This two-game slate against Hawaii marks the ninth time in school history that WSU has played the same team in back-to-back games. After defeating Hawaii in the first game (66-48), the team will be looking for the sixth two-game sweep in back-to-back games against the same team.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 16 (1:45 p.m.)

Weekly Release...

To view this week's weekly release in its entirety, click HERE.

FIRST GLANCE
The Washington State women's basketball team (6-2) heads to the Aloha State for a pair of games against Hawaii (2-7). The Cougars and Rainbow Wahine square off Friday (Dec. 19) and Monday (Dec. 22) at Stan Sheriff Center.

Tip-off for the first of the two-game match-up is scheduled for 4 p.m. (PT), while the second game is slated for a 7 p.m. (PT) tip.

THE SERIES
The Cougars and Rainbow Wahine have met four times on the hardwood, with all four games going in favor of Hawaii. Each of the four games have also been played on the islands.

NOTE OF THE WEEK
Though back-to-back games against the same team is rare, since WSU's first season of women's basketball (1970-71) the Cougars have played the same team in back-to-back games eight different occasions. In five of the back-to-back series WSU has won both games, twice the Cougars have split and once the Cougars lost both games. The last time WSU played the same team in back-to-back games was in 2005-06, when the Cougars knocked off CSU-Northridge (65-64) at the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, and again (68-55) at home in Pullman five days later.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 15 (4:45 p.m.)

Exciting News from Practice...

The Cougars just got done with their only practice in Pullman this week. The team will be leaving early Wednesday morning for Hawaii.

If you are not making the trip with the team, there is still something you can get excited about...

Jessica Oestreicher, WSU's 6-foot-8 freshman center, practiced today for the first time since undergoing knee surgery earlier this season. She is slated to see her first regular season action as a Cougar this week against Hawaii.

In the preseason against Concordia, Oestreicher played 11 minutes, scoring nine points and pulling down two rebounds.

Another note...Head Coach June Daugherty will join Bud Nameck for the Cougar Coaches' Show tomorrow night at 6:45 p.m., live from the Hilltop Restaurant in Pullman. The broadcast can be heard on KXLY 920 AM, as well as the rest of the Cougar Basketball Radio Network affiliates.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 10 (12:05 p.m.)

Weekly Release...

I haven't been the best about posting this to the blog recently, but hopefully you have been checking it out on your own at our Web site.

Here are some excerpts from the release against Idaho. To read the release in its entirety, click HERE.

THE SERIES
The Cougars lead the all-time series 25-13 and are looking for their second straight victory over the Vandals after winning last year's meeting 67-49 in Pullman. WSU has not defeated the Vandals on the road since Dec. 12, 1995 (72-71), a streak of four consecutive losses.

STAT OF THE WEEK
With a win over the Vandals, the Cougars will have started the month of December with a perfect 3-0 record...WSU has not kicked off the month of December with three straight wins since the 1996-97 season, when the Cougars knocked off Fresno State (Dec. 6; 69-68), Weber State (Dec. 7; 85-68) and...Idaho (Dec. 10; 78-68).

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 10 (10:30 a.m.)

Coach Daugherty Teleconference

Head Coach June Daugherty just got done with the first of three Pacific-10 Conference teleconference calls for 2008-09. Here is some of what she talked about...

On the team's play thus far this season...
"We're excited about the solid play we have seen from the team early on this season. We have a young group, starting three freshmen. Hopefully our nonconference will get us ready for the rigors of Pac-10 basketball."

On WSU's seniors...
"We have four seniors who are phenomenal leaders. I can't praise them enough about their leadership role with bringing in eight new student-athletes."

On what WSU needs to improve upon...
"Our biggest concern is the defense. This weekend the team got back on track, holding both teams to around 50. But we would like to see that number get down to 40 so we don't have to get into shooting matches with teams this year."

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 9 (4;10 p.m.)

Captain's Corner...

Coug Fans,

What a great weekend for our team! Getting two victories in front of our home crowd was awesome. I know people are excited about our team and every game it seems like our crowd continues to grow.

For those of you who didn't get a chance to go to the games, we really played well this weekend. Against Long Beach State we really made a statement defensively. We played good team ball and really pushed the tempo.

Against Milwaukee we played a solid game, especially in the second half. We struggled showing poise in some spurts of the first half. We had some uncharacteristic turnovers in those first 20 minutes. Luckily, because we played good defense, we didn't dig ourselves into a hole. We were down by five at halftime and came out the second half with fire. I think this is the point that the coaches have been stressing the last few weeks. Even if we do have an off game offensively, as long as we play solid, team defense, we can stay in the game. Offensively, we got much better shots in the second half and knocked down a lot of outside shots.

This week is "Dead Week" for us at school. Most of my teammates are finishing up end of the year assignments, finishing papers or presenting semester projects to their peers. I think the team is handling the extra stress well right now. This week during practice our ability to block out academic stress will be tested, but I have no doubt that our focus will be as sharp as ever. I know everyone is ready for a break from classes and we are all anxious for finals to be done! As for me, I only have one final and one paper to finish up for the semester.

Sunday we play Idaho in Moscow. We need people to attend to help give us a home-court feel. This should be a fun cross-town rivalry game. We are really hoping to pack that gym with more Cougar fans than Vandal fans. Winter graduation is this weekend so there should be plenty of Cougar fans in town. If you are one of these people graduating, hang around for one more day, bring your family and support our team. See you at the game!!

Go Cougs!

Katie Appleton

December 7 (7:12 p.m.)

A Good Win Deserves Some Good Footage...

To view highlights from tonight's game, click HERE.

To view Head Coach June Daugherty's postgame press conference, click HERE

To view Katie Appleton's postgame press conference, click HERE.

A big Thank You to Jared Prenguber for putting all of these together...

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 5 (6:27 p.m.)

I Have a Surprise For You...

For what is probably the first time in WSU women's basketball history...We will be running GameTracker at a home game tonight!

If there are any issues, be patient. We will work out all of the kinks...

Enjoy the game, and Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 5 (2:42 p.m.)

Tonight's Game...

Tip-off against the Long Beach State 49ers is slated for 7 p.m. tonight at Friel Court. The WSU Marketing department has put together a list of promotions for every game this season. Tonight's game will include...

Quizno's Best Seat in the House
Lucky Program (Sponsored By Italian Kitchen)
Bookie Clean the Court
Baskin Robbins Hoops for Scoops
Shirt Shack Unfreeze the T's
Pete's Bar & Grill Challenge
Junior Cougar Kids Club Dress for Success
Pizza Hut Pizza Toss
Z Fun T-Shirt Toss
Lilly Bee's Tic-Tac-Toe
Taco Del Mar Point Challenge

Since today is a Friday, WSECU staff and WSU faculty get in free. The same goes for every Friday throughout the season.

You can track WSU promotions all season by clicking HERE.

On another note...I have been doing some thinking about the odwalla Classic. Sure, each of the teams went 1-1 at the tournament, so there was really no champion. BUT...

- The Cougars scored 161 combined points in the two games, nine more than San Francisco and 10 more than Northern Colorado.
- The Cougars margin of points scored against its opponents in victory/defeat was +4, while San Francisco's was +1 and Northern Colorado's was -5.

Thus...I am declaring us the winner!

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 3 (12:52 p.m.)

This Week's Practice Schedule...

Sorry for the delay on getting this out. I have been playing catch-up since I got back from San Francisco...

Here is the practice schedule for the remainder of this week:

3	1:30-4 (Beasley)
4	2-4 (Beasley)
5	GAME #6 - Long Beach State (7 p.m.)
6	10 a.m. (PEB)
7	GAME #7 - Milwaukee (2 p.m.)

The complete practice schedule for the month of December is available by clicking HERE.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

December 3 (10:21 a.m.)

Captain's Corner...

Coug Fans,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We had lots of Cougar fans around us the entire weekend. A few teammates had their family visit (mine drove about eight hours to spend Thanksgiving with me - thanks mom and dad!).

We learned an important lesson in San Francisco. As a team, we were disappointed with our defensive efforts against Northern Colorado. After watching film of that game, we came out to practice that Saturday fired up and ready to make a change. I think we had one of the best practices we have had all season after that game. It was encouraging to see that our team bounced back. However, we paid a price for our defensive performance with the loss that we endured. Defense has been our focus since that game and we need to have a defensive mindset from here on out.

Thanks for all of the fans who supported us in San Francisco. It was good to see some Cougar alumni and future Cougs in attendance.

We are working hard to prepare for a full weekend ahead with Long Beach State on Friday and Milwaukee on Sunday. Hope to see you at the game!

Go Cougs!

Katie Appleton

November 30 (1:16 p.m.)

Tip-off Against the Dons...

We have about 45 minutes until game time at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco...

The team had a good day of practice yesterday and is looking to rebound from Friday's loss to Northern Colorado. Talking to Head Coach June Daugherty before the game, she is looking for better defense from the Cougars today against San Francisco.

The defense might have been an issue in WSU's last game, but the offense has been impressive. Through the first four games of 2008-09, the Cougars are averaging 77.75 points per game - 24.5 points more than at this point last year.

You can listen to today's game on KQQQ 1150 AM in Pullman, or you can listen via our Web site.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 28 (6:30 p.m.)

Getting Ready for the Game...

I hope you all had an outstanding Thanksgiving spent with friends and family!

We had a team Thanksgiving dinner last night at the hotel, and today after morning shoot-around the team had a bit of an opportunity to do some shopping and walk around Fisherman's Wharf before tonight's game.

We should have some time to enjoy more of the sights of San Francisco tomorrow - as well as the weather. From what I hear, there is some snow falling back in eastern Washington...

There are about 30 minutes left before tip-off against Northern Colorado in WSU's first-round match-up in the odwalla Classic.

The Cougars are playing at War Memorial Gym, the very same gym that Bill Russell played his collegiate home games for the San Francisco Dons.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 26 (9:46 p.m.)

Thanksgiving Eve in San Francisco...

The team just flew into Oakland a few hours ago and drove over the Bay Bridge to San Francisco. The bus driver gave us a bit of a tour on the way here, and took us to Treasure Island to get an evening view of the San Francisco skyline. Video Coordinator Nikki Stratton took some photos, so hopefully I can show you some of them later...

On to the game notes for Friday's game against Northern Colorado...

THE SERIES
This is the first meeting between the Cougars and Northern Colorado.

NOTE OF THE WEEK
With a win over Northern Colorado, the Cougars will have posted three consecutive wins for the first time since 2005...If the Cougars can win both games at the odwalla Classic, they will match the four straight wins posted during that 2005 stretch...Nearly three years ago WSU defeated Idaho State (Nov. 26; 74-51), CSU-Northridge (Nov. 27; 65-64), CSU-Northridge (Dec. 2; 68-55) and Boise State (Dec. 4; 80-76 OT) for four consecutive wins.

The Cougars played CSU-Northridge in the Rainbow Wahine Classic and then again at Friel Court in back-to-back games in 2005.

To view the release in its entirety, click HERE...

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 25 (9:34 a.m.)

Katie Appleton and a Video...

Before we get to our weekly segment with senior captain Katie Appleton, I have a video link for you.

Head Coach June Daugherty sat down with KING 5 in Seattle for Northwest Sports Tonight a couple weeks ago. Click HERE to watch the interview.

Now...on to our weekly update with Katie Appleton...

Coug Fans,

Yesterday officially marked the start of Thanksgiving break for the students at WSU. Most students get to travel back home to spend time with their families and friends. However, nearly all student-athletes sacrifice their break to remain in Pullman to diligently work to improve in their sport. Our team has the unique opportunity to spend Thanksgiving together in San Francisco playing in a tournament. While we will not get to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with family, we will have each other. I am looking forward to sharing this time with teammates, coaches, trainers and managers. These are some of the people who help me become a better athlete and a better person. I am thankful to be surrounded with such quality people.

This Thanksgiving week, our team will be reflecting on how truly fortunate we are. We have the opportunity to represent WSU by playing the sport that we love. Every day I get to be part of something that is bigger than myself. Every day I get to do something I love. How many people do you know that get to do that? I am so thankful to be a part of this program and university. I feel blessed that I can be a part of a community that is so involved in WSU and that has so much school pride. I really appreciate all of the fans who have been such great supporters of our program.

I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday and take time to reflect on the blessings in your lives.

Go Cougs!

Katie Appleton

November 24 (4:58 p.m.)

Some Videos from Yesterday's Win...

In case you didn't see these from yesterday's victory over Montana State...

Click HERE to see highlights from yesterday's game.

Click HERE to see Head Coach June Daugherty's postgame interview.

Click HERE to see freshman forward Rosie Tarnowski's postgame interview.

One thing to keep an eye out for...Senior forward Heather Molzen sat down with Paula Salzano of Q6 (NBC in Spokane) this afternoon to tape a segment for their "Success by 6" program. The commercial centers on the importance of reading, and should begin to air in a few weeks.

For those of you at the game yesterday, Rosie Tarnowski was wearing No. 3, but will be wearing No. 21 for the remainder of the season...

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 21 (4:18 p.m.)

Back in Pullman, KiKi Moore Gallery...

That was a great trip to Boise...Taco Bell Arena is a great environment for basketball. WSU ended Boise State's 19-game home winning streak, the sixth-longest streak in the nation.

Now back in Pullman, the Cougars will play Montana State Sunday at 3 p.m. in the team's home opener. I hope to see you all out there...

I have another photo gallery for everyone. Assistant Coach Brian Holsinger passed along some photos from when KiKi Moore signed her National Letter of Intent.

GALLERY

I should have my game notes for everyone tomorrow, and we will also check in with freshman Jazmine Perkins.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 19 (4:11 p.m.)

Checking in From Boise

This goes without saying, but the trip to Boise, Idaho, was a lot faster than the trip to Lubbock, Texas...We are currently at Taco Bell Arena for practice.

I posted my game notes on the Web site. If you would like to take a look at all of the wonderful information, click HERE.

Here are a couple notes from the release:

THE SERIES
The Cougars trail in the all-time series 16-17, and lost last year's meeting in Pullman (71-64). Prior to the loss WSU had won each of the previous six games.

WSU is 5-8 when playing in Boise, though the Cougars have won three straight on the road. The last time the Broncos defeated the Cougars on their home court was Nov. 28, 1993 (77-61).

DAUGHERTY'S RETURN
WSU Head Coach June Daugherty began her head coaching career at Boise State, compiling a 123-74 record in seven seasons (1989-96).

Though Thursday's game marks Daugherty's first trip back to Boise since taking over the Cougar program, she made three trips back while with Washington, winning all three (51-37 in 1997, 82-62 in 2000 and 73-55 in 2002.

Tomorrow's game can be heard in Pullman on KQQQ 1150 AM, and Steve Grubbs will be back on play-by-play after missing the season-opener. Steve was in Oregon with WSU's volleyball team.

The game can also be heard via www.wsucougars.com. I have heard about some of the issues from the season-opener, and hopefully we have those all ironed out.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 18 (6:49 p.m.)

Razz Muir Photo Gallery...

Sunday afternoon I promised a photo gallery of WSU's newest signee, Razz Muir of Nowra, Australia. My apologies for it taking this long to get the gallery up...

Click here to view the gallery.

Tomorrow I will have some notes and series information on Thursday's game with Boise State, and later this week we will check in with freshman Jazmine Perkins.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 17 (6:35 p.m.)

Sitting in the Airport...

We're at the Las Vegas airport on a four-hour layover, and I had a chance to check in and post some entries from the team. The first entry is from freshman Danielle LeNoir, who talked a bit about her first trip with the Cougars. The second entry is from Katie Appleton, who recounted the game.

Hey Coug Fans!

Well, we're nearing the end of our first road trip. This trip to Texas has been a very memorable one for me. It started off great when Coach Mo challenged me to a 3-point shooting contest in practice. Of course I whooped his butt. Maybe somebody should have warned him. He's demanding a rematch but I've already proved my point 

Although we didn't come out of this trip with a win against Texas Tech I feel like this was a successful weekend for us. We played hard and we played strong but we also learned about our team and we saw a lot of things that we need to improve on to become a great basketball team. We saw a lot of positives come out of this game. We're going to be a great power house team in no time!

I'm looking forward to the rest of our season. It's really going to be something special to watch this team evolve and become national championship contenders. So be a part of this special journey and help support this team as best as you can! We really appreciate all of our fans coming out to the first couple home games. I even met a Coug fan all the way out here in Texas! Now that's what I call a dedicated fan!!! Hope to see you all November 23 when we take on Montana State at home!

Go Cougs!!

-Danielle LeNoir #10

...

Coug Fans,

We are at the airport in Las Vegas on our way back from playing Texas Tech Lubbock, Texas, waiting to board a flight to Spokane. This was our first road trip of the season, and for about half the team, first road trip ever. We are ending this trip without the "W" we had been hoping for, but we experienced some good lessons in the game. Learning these lessons early, especially with so many new faces, will allow us to correct things sooner rather than later.

Four things were written on the white board in our locker room before the game: Play Nasty, Poise, Execution and Play the Next Play. These were areas that the coaching staff wanted us to focus on. These are always areas that are controllable. Overall, I think we had great focus on these four areas throughout the game. There were a few lapses during the game, but I am encouraged with the way we played. This is not to say, however, that we are accepting losing. There is no false sense of winning in this program. When Coach June and the rest of the staff talk about the New Era of Championship Basketball, she means just that - we are in the process of building a championship team. To do this, we must become masters at these four things. I have no doubt that we are headed in the right direction; and sooner rather than later.

Coach Mike's remarks after the game encouraged us to play as a team. This was not in the context of implying that we play selfishly. We need to learn how to use each other's strengths. The quicker we learn to do this, the more we successful we will be at accomplishing those four statements on the white board in the Texas Tech locker room.

The coaches spent hours last night and this morning breaking down the game film. After watching film in the hotel this morning as a team, it was evident that with just a few adjustments and extra focus in some areas, the result may have been different. As a player (and I'm sure as a coach even more so), it was frustrating to see some of the mistakes during the game. However, during the film we saw some great hustle plays, and perfectly executed offensive and defensive clips.

We are ready to implement what we have learned from this game into practice tomorrow in preparation for Boise State Thursday and our home opener against Montana State. Our goal is to get better every game, every practice and every possession.

Go Cougs!

Katie Appleton

November 16 (1:23 p.m.)

Checking In from Lubbock, Recruiting News...

It was a long trip yesterday, but we made it and have about 30 minutes left before tip-off of the 2008-09 WSU women's basketball season.

If you're reading this and wondering where you can listen to the game, you are already there. Check out the All-Access portion of our site and sign up. You will be able to listen to every WSU women's basketball game this season. If you are in Pullman you can listen on Border 104.3 FM.

Our regular radio guy Steve Grubbs is with the volleyball team, so Scott Fitzgerald will be calling today's game.

Some news on the recruiting front...Coach Daugherty signed the fourth and final member of her recruiting class. Razzearne (Razz) Muir of Nowra, Australia, joined Carly Noyes (Moses Lake, Wash.), Ki-Shawna (KiKi) Moore (San Francisco, Calif.) and Ireti Amojo (Berlin, Germany).

"We are proud to welcome four new student-athletes to Washington State University and our women's basketball family," Daugherty said. "Each of our four signees is extremely talented and athletic. They are people whom have won at the highest level of competition both nationally and internationally. My coaching staff and team members provided a strong amount of hard work and dedication to assist in them becoming our 2009-10 outstanding recruiting class! This is certainly an exciting day of celebration for the WSU Cougar Faithful."

Here is Muir's bio information...

RAZZ MUIR
Muir, a 6-4 forward from Nowra, New South Wales, Australia, was a member of the NSW state under-16, under-18 and under-20 teams at the Australia National Championships.

She won back-to-back state championships with the Shoalhaven Basketball Club, and was named Shoalhaven's Player of the Year.

Muir was named both All-Australia and NSW All-State in each of the last three seasons. She was also named to the NSW All-Schools All-State team, garnering Defensive Player of the Year honors at the women's state league basketball championships. She was also named Defensive Player of the Year at the Intensive Training Centre Program in 2007.

In 2008 Nowra High School honored her with the Award of Excellence in basketball and named her the Female Sports Person of the Year. She also received a scholarship at the New South Wales Institute of Sport.

I will have some notes and my post-game release following today's game. I should also have a photo gallery of WSU's newest recruit.

We will also check in with freshman Danielle LeNoir on her first road trip with the Cougars.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 14 (11:22 a.m.)

Weekly Release...

Remember back a couple weeks ago when I talked about the weekly release? I said that once we got closer to the regular season, the release would be a bit bigger. Well, we are to the regular season, so feel free to check out the release.

Complete Release in PDF Format

For those of you not interested in checking out my 24-page release - I promise it gets to more than 30 pages by the time the season comes to a close - here are a couple of statistical tidbits...

THE SERIES
Texas Tech was victorious in each of the first two meetings between the schools, including an 85-49 victory this past season in Pullman. In the only other meeting between the Cougars and Lady Raiders, WSU fell 75-63 at the SWC Challenge in Seattle (Jan. 4, 1992).

SEASON OPENERS
WSU is 18-20 in season openers dating back to the 1970-71 season, and 11-13 in season openers played away from Pullman.

The last time WSU kicked off a season with a win came in 2005-06, a 66-57 victory at home against Pepperdine.

The Cougars' last season-opening victory on the road came during the 2000-01 season, when WSU knocked off American 59-52.

We will take off for Lubbock tomorrow morning, and will be travelling all day.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 13 (12:53 p.m.)

Amojo Photo Gallery...

Click here to view photos of Ireti Amojo.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 13 (12:01 p.m.)

Another National Letter of Intent...

Ireti Amojo has signed a valid National Letter of Intent, and will join the WSU women's basketball team for the 2009-10 season. Amojo is the third student-athlete to sign with the Cougars during the early signing period.

IRETI AMOJO
Ireti Amojo, a 5-10 guard out of Berlin, Germany, led her team to a third place finish at the European Championships (Division B). She was nominated to the German under-16 national team from 2004-06, and for the under-18 and under-20 teams this past year.

Amojo twice led her squad to both the German Championship and the Berlin Championship, and was nominated Scania Queen in the Scania Cup in 2005.

While on an exchange trip for one year, Amojo played with fellow Cougar Katie Grad's Auburn-Riverside High School team that won the 3A State Championship in 2007.

Why Ireti chose WSU...
"I chose WSU because I believe June and the coaching staff are going to turn the program around, and I want to be a part of it," Amojo said. "They are a great group of people and I felt comfortable around them from the beginning. In addition to that I was impressed by the Cougar pride which seems to be all over Pullman. There is a great atmosphere in the college village and it is going to be a great experience for me, especially because I'm coming from a big city! I'm anxious to be part of the big Cougar family!"

I should have a photo gallery of Amojo up pretty soon.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 12 (6:27 p.m.)

Calling it a Day...

Washington State University women's basketball Head Coach June Daugherty announced the signing of two student-athletes to National Letters of Intent on the first day of the early signing period, Wednesday.

Daugherty and her staff anticipate more signings before the conclusion of the early signing period, which ends Nov. 19.

Keep checking back for more updates. I will post them here as they become available.

Go Cougs!

Joe Nickell

November 12 (11:51 a.m.)

Photo Galleries of Moore and Noyes...