WSU women’s basketball will tip off against the University of California (Cal) at 3:30 p.m. in Berkeley this Sunday.

“A big thing for us is we’re trying to get back into our rhythm offensively,” said Head Coach June Daugherty. “I think it’s just a matter of time before we kind of get that rhythm back and when we do then we won’t have to count on our defense as much as we have had to count on it to create offense.”

 The team is trying to get back in sync during practice, she said.

In practice the team has been moving the ball more and spacing the floor. This will help them regain the offensive rhythm, she said. Another focus has been better shot selection to increase the chance of second and third shot chances for the team, she said.

 “We’re a very quick team and I think that we can get back in our running game if we can get the stops (and) get the rebounding,” Daugherty said.

 The team is cleaning up a few mistakes they had in the UW game, senior guard Jazmine Perkins said. They’ve been focusing on what’s open and not trying to repeat things that hurt them offensively. The hurtful elements being not reading the play and recognizing the teams scout as they had practiced before the game, she said.

 The team is preparing defensively for one of the biggest front lines and best post players in the country, she said. WSU cannot allow for Cal to get into their running game. The team will have to stop Cal from getting the ball inside to their front line and watch the perimeter, she said.

 “I think one of the biggest things they heard all in practice is that we have to be able to rebound,” Daugherty said. “We have to be able to rebound with (Cal) and try to eliminate the second and third shots that …Cal (is) very used to getting.”

 Cal is a quality team that WSU cannot afford to make a lot of mistakes against, she said. If they do, Cal can turn those mistakes into points on the scoreboard and that’s when Cal is the most dangerous, she said.

 “Cal has a lot of young players so I assume they want to go back and forth … all day down the court,” senior guard April Cook said. “And they want to run so we want to run so I’m sure it’s going to be a really exciting game.”