WSU will start its second run through of the Pac-10 when they travel to Arizona this weekend for a pair of games in the desert.

“We played well against Washington, and we played a hard 43 minutes,” WSU Head Coach June Daugherty said. “That bodes well for our team, and we are excited about that. We have a lot of energy and confidence. The second round is when it matters, and our team will not give up.” The Cougars are still looking for their first Pac-10 win, which will also break a 10-game losing streak.

WSU is coming off an overtime loss to UW and has had trouble putting a full game together during these 10 losses.

The team will play the Arizona Wildcats at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The last meeting between Arizona and WSU was on Jan. 7, which the Cougars lost 67-60. However, the Wildcats happen to be on a three-game losing streak of their own.

“These games we need to show our improvement from the last time we played these teams,” Daugherty said. “It starts on defense. The two keys to these games will be rebounding and taking care of the basketball.” After the Wildcat game, the team will head to Arizona State to take on the Sun Devils. Game time is set for noon on Saturday. The last game between the Sun Devils and the Cougars ended with WSU losing 64-59.

The Cougars have held second half leads in seven of their nine conference games.

As a significant bright spot, WSU is leading the Pac-10 and is ranked 22nd nationally in turnover margin, forcing 4.85 more turnovers per game than committing.

The Arizona game will be broadcast on KQQQ 1150 AM or at Wsucougars.com. The Arizona State game will be broadcast live on FSN.