LAS VEGAS — When Ula Motuga, standing atop a ladder, clipped a strand of the net and raised her arms triumphantly overhead, of course she was admiring the view of her Washington State teammates, coaches and family members on the confetti-covered court below.
But it was hard for her not to gaze even farther into the distance — to a point five years ago, when she traveled halfway around the world from her home near Brisbane, Australia, to the Palouse region of southeast Washington, on little more than a vision.
“It’d be lying if I told you I’d imagined this,” Motuga said, gesturing to the scene after Washington State’s 65-61 victory over U.C.L.A. in the Pac-12 Conference tournament final to clinch the first league title for any Washington State women’s team.
But here the Cougars were, carried by the vision that Coach Kamie Ethridge laid out and led on Sunday by Charlisse Leger-Walker, their maestro of a point guard. Leger-Walker earned the tournament’s most outstanding player award after a final in which she had 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and innumerable moments when she bent the game to her will.
In their run to the championship game, which included knocking off second-seeded Utah in the quarterfinals and staving off third-seeded Colorado in the semifinals,…
