Another postseason for the WSU women’s team gets started in Beasley.
There will be postseason basketball in Beasley for the fourth straight season, as Washington State women’s basketball was announced as a host for the second round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. While this might have been viewed as a bit of a rebuilding year for Kamie Ethridge’s squad, they will make an unprecedented fifth straight postseason appearance. WSU will try to finish what they started last year, when they made the final four of the WBIT. This year, in the WNIT (slightly different tournament), the Cougs path won’t look quite the same.
After falling to Portland in the semi-finals of the WCC tournament, it was unclear whether 20-13 WSU, who ranked 123rd in NET, was going to get a postseason bid. The WCC only managed to get one team into the NCAA tournament and two into the WBIT.
But alas, the Cougs are hosting once again and welcoming in the Utah Valley Wolverines from the WAC into Pullman on Monday. Utah Valley finished fifth in the WAC and fell to the eventual champion, Grand Canyon, in the WAC tournament semi-finals. just won their first postseason game in program history, beating Air Force, to advance to the second round and face off against WSU. They are led by a senior guard, Thalia White, who leads the team in points per game and minutes. She scored 15 points and dished out two assists against Air Force on Friday. Against higher-quality opponents, the Wolverines have really struggled to score the ball, and WSU would fall into that category. The Wolverines only scored 36 points against BYU earlier this season.
ESPN gives Washington State a 91.6% chance to win the contest Monday night on ESPN+. The Cougs will look to give Tara Wallack a second senior night and send her out of Beasley with a win, advancing to the Super 16 of the WNIT. The Cougs were 10-4 at home during the season, and I would expect that trend to continue Monday. Barring an outlier performance, WSU should be able to utilize their size and control the game. Regardless, this will be a great experience for WSU’s younger players to get some reps in postseason play and one last opportunity for Wallack to add to her illustrious resume.