Cougars Open Season Friday Hosting No. 22/22 Dayton

No. 22/22 DAYTON at WASHINGTON STATE
7 p.m.  •  Friday   •  Nov. 14
 Beasley Coliseum (11,671)
Pullman, Wash.

COUGARS OPEN SEASON HOSTING No. 22/22 DAYTON FRIDAY
Washington State tips off the 2014-15 season hosting No. 22/22 University of Dayton Friday at 7 p.m. in Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars continue their season-opening four-game homestand Sunday against Idaho State University.

COUGAR ATHLETICS ON THE WEB
Connect with Washington State University Athletics on the web at WSUCougars.com, the official website of Cougar Athletics. Every home game will be webstreamed at Pac-12.org.

FOLLOW THE COUGS ON TWITTER
Follow Washington State women’s basketball on twitter @WSUWomensHoops and head coach June Daugherty @CoachJuneD.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
The Cougars return eight letterwinners including four starters highlighted by All-Pac-12 guards Tia Presley and Lia Galdeira. Last season, Washington State posted one of the best season’s in school history with the program’s first trip the WNIT and its first postseason tournament appearance since 1991 (NCAA Tournament). WSU went 17-17 including 9-9 in Pac-12 play and reached the Pac-12 Conference Tournament semifinals for the second time in the last three seasons. The 17 overall wins and nine Pac-12 wins were the most under June Daugherty and the most since the 1995-96 team also won 17 games and the 1994-95 team posted nine wins during Pac-10 play. The Cougars posted four wins over ranked teams while facing the nation’s 14th-toughest schedule. Presley led the team and was fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring at 19.0 ppg while Galdeira finished seventh in the conference in scoring at 18.5 ppg and second in steals with 80.

ABOUT DAYTON
The University of Dayton returns 11 letterwinners including four starters from last year’s team that went 23-8 overall after winning an Atlantic 10 Conference title and advancing to the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Flyers posted a 87-76 victory over the Cougars in Ohio last season. Head coach Jim Jabir is in his 12th season at Dayton and owns a 210-133 career record at the school. Dayton will head  to face Gonzaga University Sunday in Spokane.

GALDEIRA, PRESLEY EARNED ALL-PAC-12 HONORS
Guards Lia Galdeira and Tia Presley were both named to the All-Pac-12 Team as voted on by the Pac-12 coaches last season. Galdeira and Presley were the first Cougar teammates to earn All-Conference honors in the same season in program history and is Washington State’s first All-Conference selection since Tricia Lamb in 1998-99. Galdeira also received All-Defensive Team honorable mention for the second consecutive year, picking up her fourth and fifth career all-conference accolades after also receiving All-Pac-12 honorable mention and a spot on the All-Freshmen team last season. Presley earned her second career all-conference honor after receiving All-Pac-12 honorable mention last season. The Spokane, Wash. native had her first two years cut short with season-ending injuries but bounced back with one of the best offensive seasons in program history, tallying 647 points, the second-highest total in WSU single-season history.

COUGAR NOTES
• Tia Presley scored 20+ points in seven of the last 13 games, including four 30-point games
• Shalie Dheensaw’s first two career double-doubles came in the two wins over Washington, her third  came in the win over USC,  fourth came at No. 18/18 Cal and fifth in the home win over Oregon
• Sage Romberg received an invitation to the WNBA combine, held at the NCAA Final Four in Nashville
• Presley and Lia Galdeira combined for 1,258 points, the highest-scoring tandem in WSU history
• Dawnyelle Awa’s 115 assists were the most by a Cougar since Katie Nyseth’s 147 in 2000-01
• WSU went 4-1 when Galdeira and Presley both scored 20 points

TEAM NOTES
• WSU started Pac-12 play 5-0 for the first time since starting NWBL play 5-0 in 1977-78
• WSU claimed its fourth straight against Arizona State and the sixth straight against the Arizona schools
• WSU swept Washington the regular-season series for the first time since 1974-75
• WSU snapped a 36-game losing streak to Washington, winning for the first time since 1995
• WSU recorded its first win over Washington in Seattle since 1993, snapping a 20-game skid
• WSU’s nine conference wins were the most since the 1994-95 team won nine Pac-10 games
• WSU’s 17 overall wins were the most since the 1995-96 team also won 17 games
• WSU’s last RPI was No. 60, the highest in school history, WSU finished No. 151 in 2012-13
• WSU led the Pac-12 conference in turnover margin at +3.2
• During Pac-12 play, WSU was third in the conference in scoring at 72.7 ppg
• WSU shot 40.0 percent, the highest team shooting percentage since 2000-01 (40.4)
• WSU posted a 32.7 three-point shooting percentage, the best mark since 1999-2000 (35.1)
• WSU averaged 74.3 ppg last season, the highest since 1994-95 (74.9 ppg)

COUGS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Washington State went 4-5 against ranked opponents last season, posting a 76-72 road win at No. 10 Nebraska, a 85-78 victory over No. 24 Arizona State, a 70-60 win over No. 21 Colorado and a 91-83 victory over No. 20 California a the Pac-12 Tournament. The Cougars dropped a pair of eight-point contests to No. 25 Gonzaga and No. 3 Stanford, a 87-70 decision to No. 23 Cal,  a 75-68 contest in overtime at No. 18 Cal and a road game at No. 5 Stanford. For the first time in school history, WSU posted four wins over ranked teams in the same season.

PRESLEY PRODUCED BIG NUMBERS
Tia Presley led the team with 13 20-point games this season including five 30-point efforts. Presley scored 647 points this season, second-most in WSU single-season history behind Jenni Ruff’s record setting 685 in 1995-96. Presley went 162-for-227 at the free throw line, the third-most attempts and makes in the Pac-12 this season. The Spokane native led the team in shooting pct. (44.4), was second in steals (56) and was one of three Cougars to surpass the 1,000 career point milestone during the season. She averaged a team-best 17.9 ppg during conference play, eighth-best in the league.

PRESLEY’S 20-POINT GAMES
Tia Presley scored 20+ points 13 times last season, the third-most by a Cougar in a single season. Jenni Ruff holds the record with 19 in 1995-96. Presley opened the season with 20 points Syracuse, later went for 29 in the win over Ole Miss in Hawaii, scored a career-high 37 in the win over Fresno State, went for 21 while beating Cal State Northridge, scored 24 in the victory over UC Riverside in Kennewick, Wash., 29 in the win at Washington, 21 in the win at USC, 20 against No. 3 Stanford, 20 in the loss to No. 23 California, 32 in the wins at Utah, at Colorado, at home against Oregon and 31 in the win over Oregon at the Pac-12 Conference Tournament. Her 37 points against Fresno State were the second-most in WSU single-game history, four away from Jenni Ruff’s school record of 41 set in 1996.

GALDEIRA CONTINUED TO PRODUCE
Lia Galdeira averaged 18.5 ppg and was second in the Pac-12 in steals with 80, trailing only Cal’s Brittany Boyd. Galdeira’s 12 20-point performances this season were second-most on the team and her 62 made 3-pointers were the third-most in WSU single-season history. Twice she reached the 29-point mark, the first coming in her return to her home state Hawaii against the Warriors and the other coming at Dayton. Galdeira also scored 20 in the win over Fresno State, 26 in a overtime victory against UC Riverside, 27 in the win over No. 24 Arizona State, 28 in the home victory over Washington, 21 at Oregon State, 21 against No. 3 Stanford, 27 in the home win over Oregon, before going off at the Pac-12 Conference Tournament with a season-high 31 in the win over the Ducks and 28 in the win over No. 20 Cal. She added 22 at Montana in the WNIT and finished the season with 611 points, third-most in WSU single-season history. She became the 15th member of WSU’s 1,000-point club in the win over Oregon at the Pac-12 Tournament, doing so in 61 games, second-fastest by a Cougar, Jeanne Eggart reached the mark in 57 games.

DHEENSAW STEPS UP
Shalie Dheensaw enjoyed a breakout junior season, increasing her production during Pac-12 play by averaging 8.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg and shooting over 48 percent from the field while posting four double-doubles. The senior center erupted in the two wins over Washington, recording the first two double-doubles of her career with 11 points and 14 rebounds in Pullman before pouring in a career high 20 points along with 13 rebounds in Seattle. She picked up her third double-double of the season, with 11 points and 11 rebounds at USC and posted her fourth with 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds at No. 18 Cal. Her fifth double-double came in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament opening round win over Oregon with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Vancouver, B.C. native finished the season with a team-high 38 blocks, fifth-most in the Pac-12 and averaged 7.3 ppg and 6.6 rpg overall. She scored in double figures eight times and posted six double-digit rebound performances in her first season as the starter after sitting behind Carly Noyes the past two seasons who graduated as WSU’s career leader in games played and blocks.