Cougar women’s basketball announces nonconference slate
The Washington State women's basketball team announced its non-conference schedule for the upcoming 2023-24 season on Monday. The Cougars begin the season at home against Cal Poly on Nov. 6.
COURTESY PHOTO/WSU ATHLETICS
PULLMAN — Washington State Women's Basketball will host six contests and compete in the Cancun Challenge in Mexico as part of their 2023-24 nonconference schedule, head coach Kamie Ethridge announced Monday.
The Cougars return eight players from last year's team who won a program-record 23 games and captured the program's first Pac-12 Women's Basketball Championship. WSU knocked off three straight-ranked teams in Las Vegas en route to the 2023 Pac-12 Championship and clinched their third-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Ethridge, the 2022-23 National Coach of the Year by The Athletic, will see three All-Pac-12 players return this season led by All-America guard Charlisse Leger-Walker.
WSU will host an exhibition contest with Montana Western (Oct. 29) before opening the season with three straight home games beginning Monday, Nov. 6, against Cal Poly, followed by a matchup against regional rival Gonzaga Thursday, Nov. 9, and will close out the first week against Idaho State, Sunday, Nov. 12. The opener against Cal Poly will be the first meeting between the two teams while the matchup against Gonzaga, an NCAA Tournament team last year, will be the first meeting against the Bulldogs since 2021, a 51-49 Cougar win in Spokane. WSU will face the Bengals for the first time since 2017, a 72-55 WSU win in Pullman.
The Cougars will hit the road for a matchup at Montana (Nov. 14) before heading to Prairie View A&M on Nov. 19 for the second year of the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series after beating PVAM 89-61 in Pullman last December.
For the Thanksgiving holiday, WSU will travel to Mexico for the Cancun Challenge for three games beginning Nov. 23 against a Maryland team that reached the Elite Eight last season. The following day, the Cougars will face UMASS (Nov. 24) before closing out play in Cancun against Wisconsin-Green Bay (Nov. 25). WSU has split its previous two meetings with the Terrapins, winning at the 2014 San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico before Maryland evened the series after taking the 2016 matchup at the South Point Shootout in Las Vegas. The contest against UMASS will be the first in program history while the meeting against Wisconsin-Green Bay will be the third meeting between the two programs and first since 1992.
Washington State will close out the month of November hosting Texas A&M-Commerce (Nov. 29) and open December at home against UC Davis (Dec. 1). The Cougars will then head north for a road contest Dec. 5 against a South Dakota State team who reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. WSU will wrap up their nonconference schedule with a home game against Houston (Dec. 17) followed by a road trip to SEC country to face Auburn (Dec. 20). The Cougars beat SDSU last season in Pullman, and will be facing Houston for the second straight season after beating the Cougs 70-63 in Texas last year and will face Auburn for the first time in program history.
The Pac-12 Conference schedule, which is slated to begin Jan. 5, will be announced at a later date.
Season tickets for the 2023-24 Washington State women's basketball season are on sale at WSUCougars.com or by calling the WSU Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-COUGS.