Freshman Charlisse Leger-Walker scored 15 points, Bella Murekatete added 13 points and 12 rebounds, and seventh-seeded Washington State beat No. seed Utah 57-48 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Pac-12 Conference tournament. Washington State (12-10) will play No.
Jack Ellis/CougCenter
The Washington State Cougars took another step on Wednesday toward their first NCAA tournament selection in 30 years when they beat the Utah Utes for the third time this season, a 57-48 victory in the opening game of the Pac-12 tournament.
The Cougs (12-10 overall, 9-10 in the Pac-12) have another chance to bolster their resume today when they take on third-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals tonight at 5 p.m. on Pac-12 Network. WSU beat the 11th-ranked Wildcats earlier this season for one of their signature wins.
The big question, of course, is whether the Cougars have already done enough to secure their place in the NCAA tournament. ESPN has had the Cougs as one of the “last four in” for a couple of weeks now, so, at the very least, the Cougs have avoided the dreaded “bad loss” down the stretch, having beaten Utah twice and Washington once in the last three games.
Charlisse Leger-Walker has had an outstanding first season of college basketball in the United States.
Washington State Cougars women’s basketball coach Kamie Ethridge had a fair idea Kiwi hoops phenom Charlisse Leger-Walker was something special from the day she started scouting her. You don’t, after all, make a trip to Mongolia to watch any old run-of-the-mill scrub. But even Ethridge, a collegiate all-American at Texas, 1988 Olympic gold medallist and now highly respected coach, has been astounded by the ease and dominance with which the 19-year-old from Hamilton has negotiated her freshman year with the Cougars in the loaded Pac-12 conference of NCAA division 1 hoops.