The 2023 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament made history on many different levels. So did the school which won the event.
Washington State beat UCLA, 65-61, on Sunday in Las Vegas to win the Pac-12 Tournament championship. It goes without saying that a conference tournament championship is special for the school, the coaches, the players, the fans, everyone associated with a university and the team which represents it in public.
Yet, this particular champion and this particular Pac-12 Tournament were remarkably historic and special.
Would you believe this was Washington State women’s basketball’s first-ever Pac-12 championship? It is.
Would you believe this was Washington State’s first Pac-12 championship of any kind in any sport since 2002? Yes it is.
Would you believe this was Washington State’s first Pac-12 Tournament title since the Pac-10 created the modern men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in 2002? (There was a four-year run for the men’s tournament from 1987 through 1990, preceding 2002.)
Yep. This is the first Pac-12 Basketball Tournament title for either the men or women at Wazzu.
It’s a remarkable moment for Washington State fans. Congratulations to them.
This tournament was historic for the Pac-12, beyond what Washington State specifically achieved.
Seventh-seeded Washington State versus fifth-seeded UCLA marked the first time the Pac-12 Tournament women’s final lacked a top-four seed. It was the first time both teams won three games to make the final. It was the first time the No. 7 seed won it all. Wazzu is the lowest seed to ever win the tournament.
Washington State winning a wide-open Pac-12 Tournament — beating UCLA, third-seeded Colorado, and second-seeded Utah along the way — is a remarkable achievement which speaks to the depth in Pac-12 women’s basketball. This league, including USC, gets to show what it can do at the NCAA Tournament in a week and a half.
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