Women's Basketball | 11/17/2016 2:12:00 PM
USF (2-0) at Washington State (2-0)
Friday, Nov. 18 | 7 p.m.
Beasley Coliseum | Pullman, Wash.
Series Record: 4-2 (WSU)
Last Meeting: WSU, 74-57 (A), 2002-03
Video: Pac-12.com
Audio: USFDons.com/Livestream (George Devine)
Live Stats
Complete Game Notes [PDF]
The USF women's basketball team has opened the season 2-0 for the third consecutive year and looks to keep the strong start going as they travel to Pullman, Wash. to face Pac-12 foe Washington State in their first road contest of the young season at 7 p.m. on Friday evening.
The Dons have enjoyed sizeable victories in their first two games of the year, topping Sacramento State 91-80 in the opener on Nov. 11, before riding senior
Rachel Howard's career-high 30 points and seven assists to a 73-59 win over Seattle University this past Tuesday.
"Pushing the ball in transition was really helping with scoring," Howard said of Tuesday's victory over Seattle, "as well as looking to pass in the first quarter - be a facilitator first - it opened up more shots for me in the following quarters."
But despite the clean record so far, the Dons know there is still a lot of progress to be made if they want to defeat their first Pac-12 opponent since beating Oregon State, 64-62, on the road in 2007-08.
"I thought we did some good things, moved the ball well, but we let a 22 point lead get down to four points, which is just not acceptable," Howard added. "Keeping a lead is something you get better at as the season goes on and you build chemistry on offense and definitely defense. Going ahead we'll need to look to do that."
Meanwhile, the Cougars (2-0) come into the weekend having dispatched a pair of West Coast Conference opponents in their first two games: a 92-45 drubbing of Loyola Marymount and an 85-69 victory over Saint Mary's. Sophomore Borislava Hristova – an all-conference pick as a freshman last year - has paced the Cougar offense over the first two games, averaging 18 points per game, while Alexys Swedlund averages 12.5 points per contest.
Despite the fact that WSU is coming off a 14-16 season that saw them go 5-13 in Pac-12 play - good for ninth place in the conference - the Cougars will present an experienced squad that returns four starters, including all-conference honorees in Hristova and Caila Hailey, under 10th-year head coach June Daugherty.
This will be the Dons' first regular season meeting with a Pac-12 opponent since a matchup at Colorado in 2011-12.
"We want to have a strong showing against any opponent," Howard said. "Obviously, it's great to be playing Pac-12 teams, but we should treat them like any other team: respect their talent and work extremely hard to beat them."
Looking ahead, the Dons will return home on Sunday to host Long Beach State for a 2 p.m. tilt that will wrap up a stretch of three games in six days for the Dons. USF will then travel across the Bay to compete in the Cal Classic in Berkeley the two days after Thanksgiving. USF will meet Cal in the opener on Nov. 25, before playing either Western Carolina or Duquesne the following day.
SERIES SNIPPETS
Washington State holds the 4-2 edge in the all-time series, with all of those victories coming in the last four meetings. USF and WSU met in successive years in 2008-09 and 2009-10 in a home and home arrangement. The Cougars captured both of those contests by 82-71 and 74-57 margins, respectively. Prior to that, the teams met four times between the 1980-81 and 1984-85, playing three of those games at USF and one in Pullman. The Dons won the first two matchups in the series back in 1980-81 (63-47) and 1982-83 (79-66).
