One year and one day since now-seniors Charlisse Leger-Walker, Bella Murekatete and head coach Kamie Ethridge raised the Pac-12 Tournament Championship, WSU will try to do it again. The reigning Pac-12 champion WSU women’s basketball team (18-13, 7-11 Pac-12) will challenge the eighth-seeded Cal Golden Bears (17-13, 7-11) at 2:30 p.m. in round one of the Pac-12 Tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Cal swept WSU in the regular season. The Cougs lost an overtime heartbreaker 73-72 Jan. 7 after failing to secure a rebound and giving Cal one more shot. They then lost to Cal, 66-59 Feb. 9 in Pullman as WSU fell apart without star senior Charlisse Leger-Walker on the court.
Ugonne Onyiah paced the Golden Bears with 15 points in Pullman as she ran the paint with a 6-for-8 clip. WSU freshman Eleonora Villa scored 17 points but the Cougs did not generate enough offense, playing empty without Leger-Walker.
“We went toe-to-toe with a great team on their court on senior night where the emotion was against us, the setting was against us. We just managed a 40-minute game,” Ethridge said.
The Cougs are 3-7 without Leger-Walker, finishing the regular season strong with a 72-63 upset of No. 13 Colorado in Boulder over the weekend. The Cougs traveled directly from Colorado to Las Vegas.
The Cougs have been here before. Murekatete, Wallack, Tuhina and most of the team blazed the Championship trail last year, setting up Eleonora Villa, Jenna Villa and Beyonce Bea to replicate the Cougars’ success when the lights are brightest.
WSU challenges Cal at 2:30 p.m. in Las Vegas. The game will be broadcasted by the Pac-12 Network. The winner will face Tara VanDerveer, the winningest coach in college basketball history and her No. 1-seeded Stanford Cardinal in the next round.
