Washington State women look back, ahead after NCAA loss to South Florida

AUSTIN, Texas – After a hard loss, Kamie Ethridge seemed to appreciate the soft landing.

There were no tough questions Sunday night after the Washington State women fell to South Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

It went down to the wire, the Cougs falling 57-53 in a game that could have gone their way.

But a heartbreaker? No one was calling it that, especially after what Ethridge and her young team accomplished this year.

Picked to finish last in the Pac-12 amid what looked like a massive rebuilding project, the Cougars made it to the tournament for the first time since 1991.

That was only five years after Ethridge and her Texas teammates made some history of their own in the same arena.

Ethridge’s number hangs in the rafters at the Frank Erwin Arena along with the 1986 NCAA championship banner, the perfect inspiration for the Cougs to go even further.

That they didn’t only highlights the need for the rebuilding to continue.

A glance at the stat sheet tells it all.

Four WSU starters logged at least 36 minutes each, with forward Ula Motuga and sensational freshman Charlisse Leger-Walker going the distance.

WSU got only 17 minutes and six points from its bench. USF was only slightly better off with 24 minutes from its backups; however, the Bulls didn’t need to rely so heavily on one player.

“She’s changed this program,” Ethridge said of Leger-Walker, the freshman from New Zealand.

It showed at the end, as Leger-Walker, the Pac-12 freshman of the year, turned the ball over twice and missed a layin in the final minutes.

“We were kind of empty at the end,” Ethridge said.

In some ways the USF game mirrored the season. The Cougs started strong, then wilted in the second quarter. Down by nine at the half, they were energized by Leger-Walker and junior transfer Johanna Teder.

But as they did in some big Pac-12 games, the Cougs ran out of gas.

Moments after her season ended, Leger-Walker found perspective.

“Super disappointed in my role at the end,” said Leger-Walker, who finished with a game-high 18 points. “But I’m so proud of how far we’ve come this year.”

For that the Cougs can thank Leger-Walker and her sister Krystal, who helped bring her to Pullman in the first place.

“She’s got big shoulders,” Ethridge said of Charlisse. “I have every confidence in the world that she’s going to come back stronger.”

“Our job is to get other great players to surround her with, so she doesn’t have to carry the load as much,” Ethridge added.

The bar will also be raised. Two months ago, Ethridge was surprised to learn that the Cougs were ranked in the Top 25 for the first time in program history.

“I don’t want anyone talking about us being picked 12th again,” Ethridge said.

“It’s a sad day but at the end of the day I know what I have in that gym,” Ethridge said. “We need to get some great players and grow the players we have.”