VILLANOVA, Pa. — Man, the Washington State women’s basketball team has felt like big winners since they adopted Shania Twain’s monster 1997 hit “Man, I Feel Like A Woman” as their theme song on their run in March Madness .
The Cougars sing Twain’s song in the dressing room before games. And after unexpectedly winning the Pac-12 tournament title, the opening riff blared from the speakers and the team drowned out Twain, singing along happily over men’s shirts and short skirts — becoming the lowest-ranked team to ever win the conference tournament has .
“We’re really a karaoke team,” said striker Ula Motuga on Friday. “The bus ride, there’s no doubt someone got a loudspeaker going and then other people will sing along. Some can sing, some can’t. But it’s fun. It’s something that brings us together.”
Motuga, who hails from Australia, even used the opening line “Let’s go, girls” as the team anthem.
Twain, on tour and unavailable for comment, has become a fan. The five-time Grammy winner retweeted the Cougars’ team account and wrote after the Pac-12 title game, “I’m honored to have been a small part of your journey!!”
Why stop at a dressing room sing-along? The fifth-place Cougars tweeted to Twain that they plan to join her on stage April 28 when their tour stops in Spokane, Wash., about 75 miles north of campus.
PHOTOS: Washington St goes into March Madness and sings Shania Twain
“Are you feeling a duet with the Cougs tonight?” WSU tweeted.
Motuga is confident: “We will go on stage. She doesn’t know yet, but yes.”
Washington State also goes confidently into Saturday’s NCAA opening round tournament game against Florida’s Gulf Coast at the Villanova campus — Wazzu’s third straight NCAA appearance.
The Cougs won four games in five days in the Pac-12 tournament, beating No. 10 California, No. 2 Utah, No. 3 Colorado and finally UCLA. They are the first women’s team in Washington state to win a conference championship.
Coach Kamie Ethridge joked that her players make better backup singers.
“They’re not afraid to sing,” Ethridge said. “You will hear all different melodies and volumes. I don’t know if I would say it’s great. But I would say it’s a great time to see them enjoying the whole process. “But Shania, Shania is the lead singer.”
Twain isn’t the only famous fan throwing her support behind the Cougars: President Joe Biden has singled her out to help beat FGCU — despite letting the Cougars lose to his national championship pick Villanova in the second round.
“President Biden, man!” Motuga said. “I think it’s cool to see so many different people and public figures watching. It just shows the support they have for women’s basketball in particular and more and more people are buying into starting a group.”
Source : www.washingtontimes.com