WSU gears up for Pac-12 Tournament
Cougars seeded at No. 10 face No. 7 seed Cal in first round in Las Vegas
JACK LEWIS-CLARKE | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE
WSU freshman guard Cherilyn Molina dribbles the ball down the court in game against Stanford on March 1 at Beasley Coliseum.
March 7, 2019
When a calendar turns to the month of the March, it usually means only one thing — March Madness. As the regular season winds down for WSU women’s basketball, the Pac-12 teams prepare for the most important week of the season.
All eyes will turn to Las Vegas, Nevada when the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball teams will look to take the title of the Pac-12 Tournament at the MGM Gardens Arena.
The top four teams; No. 6 Oregon, No. 7 Stanford, No. 11 Oregon State and No. 25 UCLA, have earned first-round byes as each team looks safely locked into the NCAA Tournament and could possibly make a run at the National Championship.
The other eight teams that do have games in the first round have a tall task ahead of them as they vie for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament that comes with winning the conference tournament.
The clear favorite headed into the tournament is Oregon, however, it will not be an easy road to winning the title. In fact, the three losses that Oregon has in conference play came from the other schools with first-round byes.
Stanford might be disappointed to hear they are not considered the favorite in the league, but they are just as big of a threat as Oregon.
The top four teams cannot overlook the rest of the teams, as there are a few that could surprise some people. No. 20 Arizona State came up just shy in their quest to get a first-round bye, but they will be a tough team to eliminate down the stretch.
The other team that looks to be dangerous in the first-round are the Cal Bears. They are led by senior forward Kristine Anigwe, who is coming off a 32-point and 30-rebound game against WSU, the first time this has happened in 16 years.
Unfortunately for the Cougs, WSU is facing Cal in the first round of the tournament, so Head Coach Kamie Ethridge and the Cougs will have their work cut out for them.
Just as there is a lot at stake in the casinos of Las Vegas, there will be a lot at stake on the basketball court as well. When all the chips are down, who will stand tall over the Pac-12 teams? We will find out on the Pac-12 network as coverage of the tournament begins today at 6 p.m.
