Washington State women’s basketball center Bella Murekatete and All-America guard Charlisse Leger-Walker were named the 2023-24 Preseason All-Pac-12 Conference Team as voted on by the conference’s coaches and media.

Murekatete, from Genesis Prep Academy in Post Falls, earned her second Preseason All-Pac-12 accolade after being named to honorable mention prior to last season where she went on to earn All-Pac-12 honorable mention, was a Lisa Leslie Top-10 Finalist and earned a spot on the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team. The senior from Rwanda started all 34 games a season ago and was one of three Pac-12 players to rank inside the Top-10 in points, rebounds and blocks, joining Stanford’s Cameron Brink and Haley Jones. Murekatete averaged 13.8 points and 7.0 rebounds, and tallied 43 blocks while shooting a team-best 49.1% from the field.

Leger-Walker, a senior from Waikato, New Zealand, was named the Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player last season, was one of 10 finalists for the Anne Meyers Drysdale Award, was an All-Pac-12 selection, a Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honorable mention selection and Academic All-America second team selection. Leger-Walker started all 30 games she appeared in and averaged 17.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists, while shooting at a 40.3% clip including 68 made 3-pointers.

The Cougars return eight players including four starters from last year’s team which won a program-record 23 games, captured the program's first Pac-12 women's basketball championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.

WSU WOMEN PICKED FIFTH IN PRESEASON PAC-12 POLL

Washington State was voted to finish fifth in the 2023-24 Pac-12 Conference women's basketball preseason poll by both the league’s coaches and the media.

The fifth-place section matches the best preseason pick in program history after also being picked fifth ahead of the 1991-92 season.

Preseason Pac-12 Coaches Poll

(First-place votes in parentheses)

1, Utah (7) 116 points. 2, UCLA (3) 109. 3, Stanford (2) 100. 4, Colorado 90. 5, Washington State 84. 6, USC 70. 7, Arizona 51. 8, Oregon 49. 9, Washington 46. 10, Oregon State 43. 11, California 22. 12, Arizona State 12.

Preseason Pac-12 Media Poll

(First-place votes in parentheses)

1, Utah (12) 298 points. 2, UCLA (10) 284. 3, Stanford (5) 283. 4, Colorado 220. 5, Washington State 202. 6, USC 199. 7, Arizona 160. 8, Oregon 137. 9, Oregon State 121. 10, Washington 107. 11, California 52. 12, Arizona State 40.