Battle in Seattle: Cougs clash with UW on the road

The Washington State women’s basketball team (12-6 overall, 3-4 Pac-12) aims to build upon last weekend’s home split against a pair of top-25 teams when the Cougars travel to Seattle Saturday to face the rival Washington Huskies (14-4, 5-2 Pac-12) at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The Cougars are coming off a four-game home stand in which they recorded victories over Arizona and then-No. 25 USC. Saturday’s matchup, which is slated for a 2 p.m. tipoff on the Pac-12 Networks, is the second this season between the longtime rivals.

Guy Haberman and Rosalyn Gold-Onwude provide the television commentary on Pac-12 Networks, while Steve Grubbs describes the action on the Washington State IMG Sports Network.

ABOUT THE HUSKIES: Mike Neighbors, now in his third season as head coach, has guided Washington to a 14-4 overall record and 5-2 mark in conference play. The Huskies knocked off a pair of then top-25 teams in UCLA and USC last weekend.

Junior Kelsey Plum, the nation’s leading scorer, spearheads UW’s high-powered offense. Plum averages 27.6 points per game and is helped by redshirt senior Talia Walton, who averages 16.9 ppg. A month ago, Plum scored 33 points on 10-of-22 shooting in UW’s 79-64 victory over the Cougars in Pullman.

“She is a tremendous talent and has been for entire career,” WSU head coach June Daugherty said. “It seems like she is just getting better and better. Who is going to cover her? Our game plan will show a lot of different looks from us. She is probably going to play 40 minutes and the ball is going to be in her hands an awful lot. Hopefully, we can do a better job of limiting the looks she had (on Dec. 29), She had a lot of clean looks the first time we played them. That is something we can definitely improve upon.”

In the Dec. 29 loss to the Huskies, Washington State outrebounded UW by 11 boards (43-32), but shot just 37.3 percent (25-67) from the field, including a paltry 22.2 percent (6-27) from 3-point range, and committed 21 turnovers.

“We’re looking forward to going to Seattle and playing much better than the first time we played them,” Daugherty said. “We’ve played a lot of games since then and we’ve had a lot of time in practice to improve. It’s a great opportunity for us to go on the road and play some great basketball against a very good team and show how much better we’ve gotten. It’s like that every weekend in the Pac-12.”

LAST TIME ON THE HARDWOOD: Washington State dropped a heartbreaker to No. 17 UCLA, falling at home by a basket, 75-73. The Cougars had a chance to send the game to overtime but a last-second shot went halfway down before coming back out as the buzzer sounded. Borislava Hristova led WSU with 19 points.

BOBI BUCKETS: True freshman Borislava Hristova, affectionately nicknamed Bobi Buckets by her teammates, leads the Cougars in scoring by a wide margin. The Varna, Bulgaria native is averaging 17.3 points per game, second-best in the conference by a freshman and fifth-best overall. Her scoring average is currently sixth-best by a freshman in the country. She is shooting 47.4 percent (128-of-270) from the floor as a small forward.

Last weekend, Hristova scored 21 points against No. 25 USC, marking her seventh 20-point outing of the season. The accomplishment is a new WSU freshman record, bettering the one that had previously stood for over a quarter century.

Hristova is on pace to set Cougar freshman records in total points, points per game, free throw percentage, and field goals made. Hristova is the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after averaging 20.0 against USC and UCLA. She has earned the conference’s freshman honor twice this season.

COUGARS DEPTH SHINES: Daugherty says Washington State is the deepest it has been in her nine years as head coach. Ten Cougar players have played in all 18 games, and nine players are averaging over 10 minutes per game. WSU’s bench players have outscored the opponent’s bench 14 times this season and the Cougar reserves are currently outscoring opponent reserves by an average of 12.3 points per game.

COMING UP: Washington State continue its three-game road trip with a visit to the Bay Area next weekend. The Cougars are slated to face California on Friday (Jan. 29) before traveling across the bay to Stanford for a clash with the Cardinal on Sunday, Jan. 31.

STATISTICAL LEADERS:

Total Points: Borislava Hristova (311)

Points Per Game: Borislava Hristova (17.3)

Total Rebounds: Maria Kostourkova (87)

Rebounds Per Game: Two tied with 4.8

Offensive Rebounds: Maria Kostourkova (30)

Defensive Rebounds: Mariah Cooks (58)

Total Field Goals: Borislava Hristova (128)

Field Goals Attempted: Borislava Hristova (270)

3-Pointers Made: Louise Brown (22)

3-Pointers Attempted: Alexys Swedlund (82)

Free Throws Attempted: Caila Hailey (40)

Free Throws Made: Borislava Hristova (34)

Assists: Dawnyelle Awa (54)

Turnovers: Borislava Hristova (51)

Blocks: Two tied with 17 Steals: Dawnyelle Awa (36)

LAST FIVE RESULTS:

Jan. 4 at Colorado, W 74-66

Jan. 8 vs. Arizona, W 67-46

Jan. 10 vs. Arizona State, L 63-45

Jan. 15 vs. USC, W 73-61

Jan. 17 vs. UCLA, L 75-73

NEXT FIVE GAMES:

Jan. 23 at Washington, 2 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 29 at California, 6 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 31 at Stanford, Noon (Pac-12 Network)

Feb. 5 vs. Oregon, 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Feb. 7 vs. Oregon State, 11 a.m. (Pac-12 Network)

PAC-12 SCHEDULE (Jan. 22-24)

Friday, January 22

Oregon 59, Colorado 46

Arizona State 61, Arizona 49

UCLA 75, California 56

Oregon State 62, Utah 53

Stanford 57, USC 47

Saturday, January 23

Washington State at Washington, 2 p.m.

Sunday, January 24

Oregon at Utah, 1 p.m.

Oregon State at Colorado, 2 p.m.

California at USC, 2 p.m.

Arizona State at Arizona, 4 p.m.

Stanford at UCLA, 6 p.m. (All Times Pacific)