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Washington State's women's basketball team has started off the New Year with a pair of wins in the Pac-12. The Cougs started the weekend with an upset victory over No. 24 Arizona State on Friday and then held on for a two-point victory over Arizona on Sunday.
The Cougs are now 8-6 (2-0) on the season.
The Cougs secured their second victory over a top-25 squad of the season by beating the Sun Devils 85-78. Sophomore Lia Galdeira used a phenomenal night from the free throw line (10-of-12) to lead the Cougs with 27 points; six of those free throws were hit in the last 1:22 of the game. The defense also stepped up its game in the final couple of minutes and it allowed WSU to complete its fourth straight victory over the Sun Devils.
WSU picked up its second conference victory by holding on to beat Arizona 61-59 in Beasley Coliseum on Sunday. Galdeira again led all scorers, this time scoring 16. Arizona shot an incredible 57% from the field in the second half, but the Wildcats were unable to overcome the 40-30 rebounding advantage that Washington State held in the game. The Cougs clinched the game by securing a stop in the game's final possession.
Picking up wins over the first to conference teams that the Cougs faced is huge, especially since the schedule will not get any easier as the squad gets deeper into the season.
Next up for the Cougs is two games against in-state rival Washington. The first game is on Tuesday in Pullman at 7 p.m. with the second on Saturday at 3 p.m in Seattle. Both games will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.
Swimming
The swim team finished the Hawkeye Invitational (held Dec. 6-8) with 387.5 points and a sixth place finish. Washington State's freshmen put on an impressive performance, as Kendra Griffen and Elise Locke both made it to their event's respective finals. Loree Olson, Kelly Tannhauser, Emma Johansson, Nicole Proulx, Frederikke Hall, Presley Wetterstrom, and Alison Mand also earned points for the Cougs by reaching their event finals.
Baseball
The Cougar baseball team is going to face 27 teams that are ranked in the pre-season Collegiate Baseball preseason poll in 2014. In fact, the first team that the Cougs face is No. 1 Cal State Fullerton. Other top-40 teams that WSU will face in the nonconference schedule are No. 31 Western Carolina (four game series) and No. 33 San Diego (two game series).
Washington State is among teams in the "others receiving votes" category.
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