Washington State women’s basketball coach Kamie Ethridge likes her rebuilt roster

After surpassing 20 wins for the third straight year last season, Washington State women’s basketball coach Kamie Ethridge was faced with a challenge many coaches around the country encounter in these times: rebuilding a roster after a big defection of players to the transfer portal.

Two starters – 5-foot-8 junior guard Eleonora Villa and 6-6 junior center Alex Covill – have returned, as did 6-foot sophomore Charlotte Abraham, who started in six games and averaged 17 minutes per game, and sophomore guard Martina Alsina, who averaged 10 minutes.

Ethridge, entering her eighth season as the WSU coach, has taken the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament three times, the only appearances in program history. She likes what she sees from this year’s group – players from Estonia, France, Kosovo, New Zealand, Slovenia, Spain and Taiwan, with two from Washington and one from Montana – and the goals are high after WSU finished 23-11 last season, including 14-6 in its first year playing in the West Coast Conference.

“We legitimately put together a schedule that will prepare our kids to compete against the top teams in the nation, and that includes competing for championships in the WCC, for sure,” Ethridge said. “That’s a goal, as is getting into the NCAA tournament and advancing in the NCAA tournament.”

Are those goals achievable?

“I think so,” Ethridge said.

The reason for optimism starts with Villa and Covill. Villa, from Italy, averaged a team-high 13.6 points. Covill was third on the team in scoring at 8.3 points per game and also averaged a team-best 2.14 blocks. Ethridge said she is expecting a big jump from Covill – “I think Alex is going to dominate” – in her sophomore season.

“They’re blood sisters almost,” Ethridge said of Villa and Covill. “They think they’re sisters, even though they are completely opposite of each other. Thankfully, they became great friends and those two have embraced the opportunities here.

“I love them both together because they both have a grateful spirit. They’re not always looking at whatever someone else has. They’re just so thankful for the opportunities they have. They think they get a lot more than they give and so they don’t have a hand out. They’re not entitled players.”

Several Cougars elected not to stay in Pullman. Promising sophomore forward Dayana Mendes is now at USC, starting guard Astera Tuhina transferred to Oregon, starting guard Jenna Villa moved to Oregon State, part-time starting center Candace Kpetikou transferred to Miami, and reserve guard Kyra Gardner is now at Idaho.

“It’s hard not to take it personal, but it is really becoming transactional and a business,” said Ethridge, one of the greatest point guards in U.S. history and who won a national title at Texas in 1986 and a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics. “Players are choosing programs for all different kinds of reasons. I think there’s a few reasons why we lost them, but ultimately, I think probably all of them got quite a bit more money than we could offer them.”

Ethridge said WSU needs to get into the “rev-share game,” and also said “there are dynamics on our team that we have to get better and there are culture issues that we possibly have to work at.”

“We have to make every player feel so valued and respected, and give them the opportunity to impact the program.”

To make it easier for players to do that, WSU has 12 players on its roster, three fewer than the maximum, and one of those players – freshman forward Tahara Magassa – is expected to redshirt.

“It’s a little bit of a gamble to play with a little less of a roster,” Ethridge said. “It felt like last year we had too many players fighting for time. You just can’t keep people happy when you have a 13- or 14-man roster.”

The Cougars open the season with a home exhibition game against Eastern Oregon on Oct. 26 and the first real game is Nov. 3 at home against Idaho. WSU will get an early idea of how the new roster has come together with home games against former Pac-12 rivals Stanford on Nov. 14 and Oregon on Nov. 19.

“I’m happy about our team, happy about the kids that came back – really excited about that great base – and excited about our freshmen,” Ethridge said.

“I know people will think we’re a little bit down, replacing the players that have left our program, but I really like the look of who we are and what we can potentially be.”