Washington State Cougar women’s head coach June Daugherty said after the win over Oregon on Thursday night that the Cougs had “unfinished business to attend to” in regards to Cal. The statement was a flashback to the Cougars’ overtime loss in Berkeley just over about a week ago. On Friday, the business was finished well by the hungry ladies in crimson.
With sophomore guard Lia Galdeira leading the way, fellow soph. Tia Presley stepping up for another solid outing and senior forward Sage Romberg stepping up with four 3’s and 16 points, the Cougs were not to be denied. They took chances but played smart basketball in general and executed for the better part of 40 minutes better than Cal did. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why they won the game in that regard, but it was more than that.
After watching this team play a bit over the course of this 2013/2014 season, I can confidently say (though perhaps fairly obviously) that the Cougars have saved their best basketball for the end of the year. This team played with guts and confidence, and for such a young team played with a fair amount of maturity. Galdeira and Presley have combined for 109 of the 198 Cougar points in the first two rounds. All of it may in fact punch their ticket into the NCAA Tournament.
WSU has four wins now over ranked opponents on the season (Nebraska, Cal, Colorado and ASU) and any committee wants to see a team that has two prime-time players and a good supporting cast. No matter what happens tomorrow night they will finish above .500 with at least 17 wins before the tournament committee puts together their list. But it’s far from over yet. The ladies will face either OSU or Utah tomorrow night.
**UPDATE: The Cougs will face 3-seed Oregon State after their 50-35 beat down of Utah.
As I tweeted earlier tonight:
If you haven't seen our women play yet this year. WATCH THEM TOMORROW NIGHT @ 8:30 on Pac12Net. They are exciting! #GoCougs @CoachJuneD
— All Coug'd Up (@AllCougdUp) March 8, 2014
ON TO THE SEMI’S!
GO COUGS!