WASHINGTON STATE (13-19) at WYOMING (22-9)
2:00 p.m. MT | Saturday | March 18, 2017 | WNIT 2nd Round
Laramie, Wyo. | Arena-Auditorium (15, 028)

WSU ADVANCES TO THE WNIT SECOND ROUND WITH A HISTORIC VICTORY
The Cougs stormed into the second round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament with a historic win Thursday night as WSU earned its first-ever postseason victory in the modern NCAA era. WSU came back from 14-points down at BYU to win, handing BYU just its third home loss of the season and first in over three months. WSU find themselves in the WNIT for the third time in four seasons after earning the Pac-12's automatic bid to the tournament.

LAST TIME OUT 
Down by as much as 14, the Washington State women's basketball team stormed back in the second half against BYU to claim a 72-64 win in the opening round of the 2017 Women's National Invitational Tournament. The 14-point comeback tied for the fourth-largest comeback in program history, a mark the team eerily matched in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament just two week prior while defeating Colorado. Four Cougs hit double-figures in the win led by Alexys Swedlund's 19. She would bury three of six from deep to run her season total to 64, third-most in WSU single-season history. Right behind Swedlund, Caila Hailey tied her career-best with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting including 5-of-6 from the line. She would also grab a career-best eight steals, one off the WSU record for a single contest and the most since 2010. Pinelopi Pavlopoulou finished her night with 11 points and a career and team best nine rebounds while Kmetovska kept her playing career alive with 12 points. WSU forced 29 BYU with a season-best 20 steals leading to 26 points.

WASHINGTON STATE IN THE REGULAR SEASON
The Cougars finished the regular season with a 11-18 overall record, including a 6-12 mark in Pac-12 Conference play earning a tie for 7th after being picked to finish 10th in the preseason. Most recently, WSU split its final regular-season series, falling to Utah, 74-57, Thursday before defeating Colorado, 67-56, Saturday on senior day. The Cougars lost six games this season that were decided by two possessions (six points) or less or in overtime. Washington State defeated one nationally-ranked opponent this season, upsetting #9/7 UCLA, 82-73, on Jan. 6 in the program's biggest upset ever. WSU earned a spot in the WNIT thanks to their 7th place finish in the Pac-12.

ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming earned the Mountain West Conference's automatic bid to the WNIT after finishing the regular season at 21-9. The Cowgirls suffered a big blow to their team just before their conference tournament when they lost their leading scorer, Liv Roberts and her 15.9 ppg, for the season to injury. Without Roberts, the Cowgirls go into the Saturday matchup without a double-digit scorer in the lineup. However, Wyoming has been able to rally without Roberts was the team has won four of their last five games.