Washington State women open Pac-12 tournament with another chance to top USC

Washington State has lost six consecutive games, but the Cougars should have some confidence going into their first-round Pac-12 women’s tournament game against USC on Thursday night.

The 10th-seeded Cougars (10-19), lost by just one point, 73-72, in their lone matchup with the Trojans, on Jan. 26 in Pullman.

WSU also has won five of its last eight meetings against the seventh-seeded Trojans (19-10).

Tipoff is at 6 p.m. at Key Arena in Seattle. The winner will face No. 2 seed Stanford on Friday.

The Cougars were scheduled to wrap up the regular season last weekend against Stanford, but the game was canceled following the unexpected death of WSU strength and conditioning director David Lang. Lang worked closely with many of WSU’s roughly 450 student-athletes, but he worked directly with the women’s basketball and men’s and women’s golf programs.

WSU is led by all-conference forward Borislava Hristova, who averages 18.1 points and four rebounds.

The Trojans are led by a trio of all-conference players. Senior forward Kristen Simon earned All-Pac-12 honors while Aliyah Mazyck took home honorable mention status. Minyon Moore was named to the conference’s all-defensive team.

WSU has advanced out of the tournament’s first round five times, including last season as the No. 7 seed with a 79-78 win over No. 10 Colorado.

The Cougs are 1-3 against the Trojans at the Pac-12 Tournament. The lone win proved to be WSU’s biggest upset in the postseason, 69-65 over the No. 3-seeded Trojans in 2012.

Before the Cougars play, 12th-seeded Washington (7-22) will meet No. 5 California (20-9) at 2 p.m.