If you're an Inland Northwest basketball fan looking to watch returning top-tier guards this 2023-24 season, it's not even debatable — the women's game is where it's at. While the area men's programs might have some good transfer guards coming into the various programs, the women's teams return elite-level vets in their quests for NCAA Tournament glory. There are so many that we had to thin slice our coverage (so apologies in advance to Eastern Washington's shutdown defensive guard Jamie Lorea and arguably the best deep threat in the country, Gonzaga's Brynna Maxwell). When it comes to women's hoops in the region, this season is going to be defined by three senior guards: Washington State's potential Kiwi All-American Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gonzaga's twin duo of Kaylynne and Kayleigh Truong.
AKA LEGEND-WALKER
This might be an oversimplification, but before New Zealand guard Leger-Walker arrived in Pullman in 2020, Washington State had made one NCAA Tournament appearance... in 1991.
Since the Kiwi star has joined the squad? How about three NCAA Tournament appearances in three years... plus a stunning Pac-12 Tournament Championship (the first in program history)... plus earning the Cougs first ever preseason Top 25 ranking (No. 24) heading into this campaign.
While taking a program from the depths to national relevance has certainly been a team effort orchestrated by head coach Kamie Etheridge, it's hard to deny the impact that Leger-Walker — an honorable mention All-American last season — has had on reshaping the culture at Wazzu. Even she's a bit surprised things have turned out this well.
"If I reflect back to kind of freshman year, this experience has been honestly surreal," says Leger-Walker. "Being in the gym at one of the lowest points of where we were with this program, and now going all the way to last year being Pac-12 Tournament Champions. ... . I'm just super proud of how far we've come and excited as well."
Leger-Walker was part of an influx of international talent that Coach Etheridge convinced to come to Pullman. Having folks from disparate places come together at the same time actually bonded them closer together off-court, which then translated on the court, according to Leger-Walker.
"A lot of us value family, a lot of us value that support, and there's no better place to do that than Pullman," says Leger-Walker. "I think the community here is next level. It's what makes Pullman so amazing."
There were many milestones that marked WSU as a program on the rise over the past few years. Leger-Walker notched 20 points in her first-ever Pac-12 game against UW in December 2020, and a month later the Cougs knocked off No. 7 Arizona in an overtime thriller. The team started to believe they belonged with the elite in the brutally deep Pac-12 women's basketball scene, but the crowning achievement came when they shocked the world and won last year's conference tourney as the No. 7 seed.
But Leger-Walker knows she and her teammates cannot keep basking on that high. While the Cougars have made the NCAA Tournament three straight years, they've yet to break through and get the program's first ever win in an NCAA Tournament game. With that as a team goal (in addition to hopes of a WNBA career), Leger-Walker has been training hard this offseason to up her game — working on decision making consistency, trying to become more of a knockdown 3-point shooter and improving her defensive versatility. It helped that she was able to go home and play for New Zealand's national team this offseason — testing her mettle against actual WNBA players and foreign standouts in the FIBA Women's Asia Cup — impressively finishing second in scoring among all players.
This year the Cougs aren't going to be able to play the role of the plucky underdogs who come out of nowhere anymore. For the first time ever, the Washington State women have a target on their backs. But for a competitor like Leger-Walker, that challenge is part of the fun. To be the best, you've got to believe you're the best.
"The culture and mindset have shifted," declares Leger-Walker.
A TWINNING COMBINATION
The Truong twins have always known they are both excellent point guards. The rest of the basketball world? Well, they really didn't accept that truth until last year.
Coming into last season, Kayleigh Truong was the star starting point guard for the Zags, while Kaylynne Truong's role was more of a key contributor coming off the bench. But everything flipped when Kayleigh injured her foot early in the season at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.
To say Kaylynne stepped up when given the chance to fill her sister's role would be a wild understatement. She took the reins as the starting point guard and led the Zags to a WCC regular season title — averaging 15.8 points and 5 assists per game while shooting a smoking 42.2% from 3 — and unexpectedly captured WCC Player of the Year honors. But both sisters grew a little frustrated by how surprised folks were that Kaylynne could seamlessly fill that star guard spot.
"I personally don't like the narrative," says Kaylynne. "I've grown up with it, being the youngest. Obviously, it was unfortunate that Leigh went down and I had to step up, but it was, in a way, a blessing to me, just because I was able to show people what I can do."
In a senior night surprise last February, all the Bulldogs' seniors — the Truongs, Brynna Maxwell and Eliza Hollingsworth — announced they'd return for their fifth years. (The 2020-21 COVID season didn't count against eligibility.) The Zags are running it back for 2022-23. Expectations for the veteran team are extremely high.
The squad honed its skills with a foreign tour in Vietnam this summer and hope steel sharpens steel with a daunting nonconference schedule that includes the likes of Stanford, Washington State, Alabama, Cal, Arizona and Louisville. After getting bully-balled during a disheartening season-ending First Round NCAA Tournament loss to Ole Miss last year, the Truongs know their team needs to get reps in against that top-level competition.
"We lacked practice against teams that play like Ole Miss in the SEC. So that's why I'm so excited for this season, because our nonconference schedule is probably the best it's been since I've been here," says Kaylynne. "In the WCC, there are some athletic teams, but not many."
But nothing has the twins more excited than a Thanksgiving trip back to Texas for the Van Chancellor Classic, where the twins will get to play in front of family and friends who have rarely been able to see them play in person while at GU.
Finally, the Truongs get to be co-stars playing side by side.
"I feel like we just haven't missed a beat," says Kaylynne. "And we're just very excited to play at Gonzaga together, because I feel like we haven't been able to — excluding the first three or four games last season. I'm just excited to be sharing the court again with Leigh." ♦
