After three straight jubilant Selection Sundays for WSU women’s basketball, the mood in head coach Kamie Ethridge’s house Sunday evening was of disappointment.
While the Cougs are disappointed to not qualify for what would have been a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament, head coach Kamie Ethridge said her team recognizes the opportunity in front of them as the No. 1 seed in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
“It was interesting standing in front of our team tonight. And then seeing disappointment on our players’ faces and feeling as though you know, they’re looking back at you going, ‘what happened?’” Ethridge said.
WSU women’s basketball (18-14, 7-11 Pac-12) will host Lamar (24-6, 18-1 Southland Conference) in the first round of the inaugural WBIT at 6 p.m. Thursday in Beasley Coliseum. ESPN+ will broadcast the game.
The WBIT is an NCAA-sponsored secondary tournament for programs that did not qualify for the 68-team field. It includes a field of the “next-best” 32 women’s basketball programs and will conclude with a final four semifinals and final event at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 1 and 3.
This time last year, the Cougs erupted in cheers when they learned exactly where they were going for the NCAA Tournaments. As Pac-12 Conference Champions and an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament, there was no question if the Cougs were going to the NCAA Tournament, only a matter of when and where.
After three straight years of NCAA Tournament berths, the Cougs seemed to be in contention to host NCAA tournament games, no question. But after star senior Charlisse Leger-Walker suffered a season-ending ACL injury, the Cougs went 3-8 down the stretch and lost in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
“We want to go back to that,” Ethridge said. “We want to get to the NCAA tournament. We want to make deep runs in the NCAA. But in the meantime, I think, you know, we were a bubble team. We were right there. We didn’t finish the season great. And now the opportunity before us is to make a deep run into this tournament.”
Ethridge said she was surprised by the lack of competitive drive she saw from her team in Las Vegas, leading to a 19-point first-round loss to fellow WBIT-invite Cal.
“Being competitive can’t be an on-and-off kind of thing,” Ethridge said. “You know, going into the Pac-12 and not being the more competitive team on the court was a real eye-opener, you know, I just didn’t see that coming for our team.”
Ethridge said the Cougs focused on sharpening that competitive edge last week in practice and will look to their most talented players to step up and lead the team.
“The driving force has to be our upper-class Terra, Bella, and AT,” Ethridge said. “If those three players show up and lead us in the way that I know they’re capable of and the way they have, you know, I think we can make a deep run into this tournament.”
As the No. 1 seed, WSU can host up to three games in the tournament with the first round tipping off Thursday, the second round Sunday and the quarterfinals March 28. The semifinals and finals will take place at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 1 and 3.
Fellow Pac-12 programs Cal and Washington qualified for the WBIT.
The WBIT essentially replaced the Women’s National Invitational Tournament as the secondary college women’s basketball tournament, but the independently-run WNIT has not gone away.
The WNIT, in its 26th year, announced its 32-team postseason bracket, which includes mostly mid-majors, including one from the West Coast Conference in Pacific, home of former Coug Lauren Glaizier, who transferred from WSU over the summer, and two from the Mountain West schools, including Boise State and Wyoming.
WSU’s opponent Lamar suffered one loss in the conference in the regular season, losing to Texas A&M University-Commerce 73-70, Jan. 18.
They lost in the second round of their conference tournament to Texas A&M – Corpus Christi 68-61 after beating Commerce 83-58 in the first round.
WSU hosted Texas A&M Commerce and beat them 111-50, Nov. 29. Leger-Walker scored 15 of those points.
“This could be a leapfrog opportunity for us, for our young players to get great minutes and then great postseason experience. So we’re going to take advantage of it as much as we can. And again, gonna lean on those upper class and leaders that are going to be really determined to make sure that we play our best basketball this season,” Ethridge said.
WSU hosts Lamar at 6 p.m. Thursday at Beasley Coliseum. WSU Athletics is selling tickets on their website and the game will be broadcast by ESPN +.
