On the heels of four consecutive losses, three at the hands of ranked teams and two that came down to the final possession of the game, it is do-or-die time for the WSU women’s basketball team in this weekend’s games.

Halting this skid will not come easy though with a much-improved Oregon Ducks squad and No. 9 Oregon State coming to Beasley Coliseum this Friday and Sunday looking to bolster their individual NCAA Tournament resumes.

“They understand we have been in so many close games that could have gone either way,” WSU Head Coach June Daugherty said. “We made some mistakes down the stretch that were costly but sometimes we didn’t make mistakes. Shots didn’t fall and that’s part of basketball. But they understand that if we keep working, eventually things will go our way.”

At 12-9 overall and 3-7 in Pac-12 play, the Cougs are in dire need of a win over an Oregon team (15-6, 4-6) just one game in front of them in the conference standings to get back into the conversation for postseason play.

Under second-year Head Coach Kelly Graves, the Ducks surprised everyone in going undefeated in non-conference play and with a season-opening win in Chapel Hill over then No. 22 North Carolina.

After starting its conference slate 0-5, UO has won four of its last five games to re-enter NCAA Tournament discussions.

“We’ve got a chip on our shoulder now, so they should be worried,” said sophomore forward Louise Brown. “Obviously we’ve got four seniors who we respect very much and we want them to see the NCAA tournament before they leave. We don’t want to lose sight of that, but we need to take each game as it comes. So our big focus is Oregon and then we’ll go from there.”

In WSU’s last game against No. 16 Stanford, it surrendered 11 second half rebounds to the Cardinal, ultimately washing away a first half lead in a 69-52 loss.

UO’s 6-3 forward Jillian Alleyne will enter Friday’s contest averaging 18 points per game and 13.7 rebounds per game and is the NCAA’s active rebound leader in addition to holding the record for most rebounds ever recorded by a Pac-12 player.

To win a game it desperately needs, maintaining an inside presence will again be at a premium for WSU.

“The key there is to limit her touches as best you can,” Daugherty said. “Certainly they isolate her a lot off pick and roll and a lot of the other sets they run to get her one-on-one. She’s a phenomenal athlete, she leads the country in rebounding, and she’s great at getting up off the floor – she’s very explosive.”

This Sunday and following the matchup with UO, the Cougs will perhaps face their strongest foe all year in the ninth-ranked Beavers (18-3, 9-1). Fresh off a 67-44 win over No. 10 Arizona State Monday, OSU has taken control of first place in the Pac-12 and is in control of its own destiny for a regular season title.

With athletes able to both shoot from the outside and be disruptive in the paint, sixth-year Head Coach Scott Rueck has turned a program that was once in turmoil into a perennial top-10 force.

Daugherty noted Rueck’s ability to sell his program to players and the Corvallis fanbase in addition to recruiting players of exceptional size that play within his coaching staff’s system.

“They’re a team that can play you to a close score or it can be up in the 80s,” Daugherty said. “It’s unusual to see a team play that way. It’s going to be being able to handle their size inside. (Ruth) Hamblin is 6’6 but she’s probably 6’9 with her arm length as much as she affects shots.”

“She was defensive player of the year last year in the Pac-12 because she can single-handedly change the game with her presence. And then getting out on their guards, they have a lot of firepower in their guards and on their front line”

WSU enters this weekend’s action averaging 19.3 turnovers forced per game with 10.4 of those coming as steals.

Under first-year Assistant Coach Rod Jensen’s defensive formations, the Cougs have blocked an average of 4.3 shots per game and redshirt freshman forward Nike McClure has already set the record for blocked shots by a freshman with 19.

“Playing those big players this weekend, rebounding is definitely going to be key,” McClure said of having to step up. “We’re all really passionate about what we do and when you have a good coach like him, you’re really able to hone in your abilities as a player.”

Hamblin and senior sharpshooting guard Jamie Weisner among other multidimensional Beaver threats present all sorts of matchup challenges for Daugherty, but everyone on WSU knows that it has to get through what promises to be a physical challenge from Oregon before it can worry about OSU.

WSU will square off with Oregon at 8 p.m. on Friday at Beasley Coliseum before taking a run at Oregon State at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Coverage of both games will be provided by the Pac-12 Networks.