March 2, 2007
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Washington State senior forward became the 11th Cougar in Washington State women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points by sinking two free throws with 5:25 remaining Friday against UCLA in the first round of the 2007 State Farm Pac-10 Women's Basketball Tournament. WSU fell to the Bruins 72-58 in San Jose, Calif.
Benz, a 6-foot-2 forward out of Portland, Ore., concludes her Cougar career as WSU's all-time career rebound leader with 899 boards and is 11th all-time in career scoring with exactly 1,000 points.
Marisa Stotler led the Cougar offense with 14 points while Ebonee Coates picked up seven rebounds. Amanda DuRocher also picked up a career-high seven rebounds and was 2-of-6 from three-point range.
UCLA's Lindsey Pluimer led all scorers with 15 points, 13 of which came in the first half. Noelle Quinn added 14 points for the Bruins.
Despite an 11-point halftime lead for UCLA, the first half featured six lead changes and two tied scores. The Bruins struck first as Lindsey Pluimer hit a three-point shot just 30 seconds into the game. Nevertheless, four scoreless minutes would pass until Noelle Quinn made 1-of-2 free throw attempts to give the Bruins a 4-0 lead with 16:32 remaining. WSU came to within two points, however, as Colleen Betteridge drove baseline and hit a reverse layup.
The Cougars would take their first lead at the 11:26 mark when Kate Benz knocked down a successful three-point shot. Both teams would share the lead until Amanda DuRocher made a shot from beyond the three-point line. UCLA slowly began to extend their lead when Quinn hit a jumpshot, starting an 18-6 UCLA run to close out the first half.
UCLA dominated the free-throw heavy second half, extending their lead to 15 with 13:31 remaining. The Bruin lead reached as many as 18, yet virtually all points were scored at the charity stripe as UCLA shot 13-of-24 from the free throw line in the second half alone. Washington State was 11-of-16 from the line in the second half after only shooting 2-of-2 in the first half. The Cougars shot 72 percent from the free throw line overall.
Washington State concludes the 2007 season with an overall record of 5-24 and a Pac-10 record of 1-18.