After a bumpy start to the regular season and a 64-51 win against Jacksonville State on Saturday, the women’s basketball team will be back at home for the remainder of this week. The San Francisco Dons will visit Beasley Coliseum first on Thursday.

The Cougs’ first road victory of the season against the Gamecocks was a hopeful start for the team, Head Coach Kamie Ethridge said, but she knows they still need to improve.

“I felt like we were prepared for the competition that we had,” Ethridge said. “I was a little disappointed in how we competed and that’s been a learning curve, I think, for my staff and me and certainly for this team.”

After playing all their games so far in California, the Dons will leave their state to come visit WSU for the ninth meeting in the two teams’ history. The Cougars have been successful in six consecutive matchup and most recently battled against them last season in California, winning 74-70.

These teams have faced off the past two seasons with both wins in favor of WSU, and the Cougars have won every match since the start of the 21st century. However, neither team has had a boisterous season start, with the Cougars’ 2-4 record and the Dons’ 2-3.

The Cougars have two wins this season, one on the road against the Gamecocks and one at home against Nebraska. A double overtime match against the Huskers helped highlight some season spotlight players in the WSU lineup.

Redshirt junior forward Borislava Hristova made 31 points, including five three-pointers. She would go on to score 18 points against Jacksonville State along with senior guard Alexys Swedlund’s 15 points and junior guard Chanelle Molina’s 10. Molina had season-highs during the Husker game, scoring five times behind the three-point line and reaching 26 total points.

The Dons have had two back-to-back losses with their most recent win coming on Nov. 18 against California Polytechnic 65-62.

Ethridge said she believes WSU and San Francisco are similar teams.

“San Francisco is a team that’s a lot like us, a little bit in flux,” Ethridge said. “They’re struggling to identify and figure out who they’re going to be and what they can run successfully, but what they do have is just a heart of a lion.”

Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. Thursday in Beasley Coliseum as the Cougars fight to start a win streak.