Washington State makes women’s poll for 1st time

Kamie Ethridge was surprised to hear that Washington State had never been ranked before. Now the Cougars coach can add that to the team’s list of accomplishments: They entered The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll at No. 25 on Monday.

“I honestly didn’t know we’d never been ranked,” Ethridge said. “I heard a lot about the lows we’ve experienced and talked to our team about the fact we have no banners. We have one NCAA Tournament appearance in the history of the NCAAS. A big part of our recruiting players was about hanging the first banner and being a first. How exciting it is to be on the way up.”

The ranking comes a day after Washington State beat then-no. 7 Arizona 7169 in overtime on a buzzer-beating layup by freshman Charlisse Leger-walker. Washington State (7-1) has won five of its first six Pac-12 games for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

“We’re enjoying the process right now,” said Ethridge, who took over the program in 2018. “The team has had a lot of firsts and this is another one of those.

We’ll celebrate and acknowledge and enjoy the feeling.”

While Washington State was enjoying its first ranking, Stanford tightened its grip on the No. 1 spot in the poll. The Cardinal received 29 of the 30 first-place votes from a national media panel. They were followed by Louisville, North Carolina State, Uconn and South Carolina. The Wolfpack received the other No. 1 vote.

Not much was expected from the Cougars this season, who were picked last in the Pac-12 preseason polls by the media and coaches.

“The team grabbed hold of being picked 12th and carried that with a big fat chip on their shoulder,” Ethridge said. “They don’t verbalize a lot. … They have a lot of pride about what they can do with this program.”

They’ve definitely opened some eyes with two victories over Top 25 teams after also beating Oregon State last month. It’s the first time since the 201415 season that they have two wins over ranked opponents. The lone loss came by four points to Oregon.

Ethridge hopes to guide the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991.

COLLIN ANDREW/AP Washington State coach Kamie Ethridge, seen in 2020, was surprised Monday to learn the Cougars were in the Top 25 for the first time.