LOS ANGELES – Washington State women's basketball wrapped up nonconference play with an impressive 87-60 victory over Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles Monday.

The Cougars improved to 9-2, its best start since the 1995-96 team started 12-2. Senior guard Tia Presley led the way with 16 points and six assists and Lia Galdeira added 15 points and six rebounds for the Cougars who shot over 44 percent from the floor including a season-high 12 three-pointers. LMU (2-9) was limited to 33 percent shooting but was led by Emily Ben-Jumbo's 13 points.

“I am really proud of our kids to come down here, stay focused after a tough week of finals and head into the holiday break with a win,” head coach June Daugherty said after the game. “I really liked our defense in the second half. We set the tone on defense, capitalized on offense and kind of took the wind out of LMU a little bit.”

WSU scored 30 points off of 24 Lion turnovers. Junior forward Mariah Cooks and junior guard Taylor Edmondson each added nine points and freshman forward Louise Brown finished with eight points and five rebounds.

“Our focus has been to improve defensively each game and that was good to see,” Daugherty added. “It was important to be balanced again and have players ready for any situation. I am very excited about our 19 assists, working on moving basketball for easy shots. Hats off to Tia for six assists. We are proud of kids, playing a tough schedule and beating some good teams. We have had better focus this year and we have continued to improve each time out because of that.”

The Cougars were hot from long range early, using the three-ball to take an early lead as Galdeira sank one from the left wing before Presley knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers on consecutive possessions.

Midway through the half, Washington State erupted for a 14-1 run to take a double-digit lead. Freshman center Bianca Blanaru started the run with a nice little left hook, Brown followed with a jumper off the glass and Edmondson hit her first three of the game. With her parents on hand all the way from Greece, freshman guard Pinelopi Pavlopoulou jumped in front of an LMU pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup. She finished with four points and three assist. Edmondson later added another three and Presley capped the run with a pullup jumper for a 28-14 advantage.

Late in the half, Los Angeles native freshman guard Caila Hailey connected on a three from the right wing as the shotclock expired. Dheensaw added a baseline jumper and Edmondson ended the half with another three for a 41-27 lead.

The Cougars shot over 45 percent in the first half including seven 3-pointers while LMU shot 37 percent and committed 15 turnovers.

Washington State opened the second half with a defensive stop that led to a fastbreak three from Presley followed by another defensive stop and a layup from Galdeira and a 46-27 lead.

Midway through the half, Washington State put the game away with a 10-0 run as Brown followed a Galdeira free throw with a three in the left corner and added another bucket after grabbing an offensive rebound. Presley then knocked down two free throws and Galdeira scored after grabbing a rebound to open up a 24-point lead.

WSU will have the holidays off before returning to the court to open the Pac-12 Conference season at the Arizona schools Jan. 3 and Jan. 5.