Sherri Murrell took the Washington State women’s basketball coaching job last year with her eyes open.

A 2-26 season with a losing streak that reached 43 opened them wider.

"What I had to learn was I had to embrace the past," the former Pacific coach said. "I thought I could come in and coach and put the past behind us. They were like beaten dogs. I had to understand what they had been through."

The lone positive last year is the Cougars never quit. In the league tournament they lost 53-46 to Southern Cal, the same team that won by 48 and 53 points in the regular season.

"I go into every game thinking we’re going to win it," Murrell said. "I’d like to be .500; I’d like to be better than that. We can’t be first right now, I know that, but we can really work at getting out of the cellar."

The goal is "halfway up the ladder" in the Pac-10 for a team that was 8-64 in the last four years, but she can’t quantify that.

"My dad (Frank) does that," she said. "He gets the schedule and goes, ‘OK honey, you should have this many wins.’ We have a little bit more realistic schedule … The one thing last year is nobody wanted to lose to us, nobody overlooked us. . . . We were hoping to sneak up on people and everyone came in prepared for us."

WSU will also be more prepared with eight returning letterwinners and minimal statistical losses.

Murrell expects another solid season from All-Conference honorable mention Bianca McCall (13.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg), a 6-foot-1 post. But 6-2 Candace Fields (7.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg), who missed eight games, should share more of the inside burden.

"I think some of the kids who are going to be real important for us are not just Bianca," Murrell said. "Last year it was Bianca and we never knew who we were going to get to step up. Candace Fields is going to be one who really stands out. She was in the gym two or three hours every single day. Candace always had the physical abilities, now she’s putting the mental with it."

Improved outside shooting has been a point of emphasis.

"Last year we were awful and I pretty much let them know that," Murrell said. "Probably 75 percent of our shooting was from our post players.”

That means slashing point guard Jessica Perry (9.5 ppg), senior Lindsey Egeland (6.8 ppg) and converted post Jami Clevenger need to knock down their shots.

Two freshmen should make an immediate impact, 6-foot Adriane Ferguson from Mead who will start and 6-2 forward Kate Benz, one of their best outside shooters. Benz could also start as McCall rounds into shape after summer arthroscopic knee surgery.

"Can they handle the fire right away?" Murrell asked. "The freshmen are all kids that come from state tournament teams, they’ve been in that situation. . . . (They’re) basketball oriented kids. They know how to win. Last year we didn’t know how to win. We’re bringing in players that have that mentality."

Which makes this year about coaching.