PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State took No. 15/14 Stanford University to overtime but the upset bid came up short, allowing the Cardinal to escape with an 86-76 victory in Beasley Coliseum Sunday.

The Cougars (10-5, 1-3 Pac-12) held the lead for much of the game before a late flurry by the 14-time Pac-12 Conference regular-season champion Cardinal sent the game to overtime where a couple clutch shots held off the WSU quest for its third win over a ranked team this season.

Washington State went toe-to-toe with Stanford (12-4, 4-0 Pac-12), scoring 16 points off of 15 Cardinal turnovers and connected on eight 3-pointers. Senior guard Tia Presley scored a game-high 23 points after hitting three from behind the arc and junior guard Lia Galdeira added 18 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. Senior center Shalie Dheensaw tallied eight points, six rebounds and two blocks. WSU received a couple big performances from two freshmen as guard Pinelopi Pavlopoulou hit three 3-pointers and forward Louise Brown added eight points and six rebounds.

Stanford shot over 46 percent from the floor, hit nine threes and had six players score in double figures. Washington State shot 37 percent from the floor and scored 30 points from inside the paint but shot 12 percent in the overtime.

Both teams opened the game trading buckets in frantic pace before the game slowed and both offenses settled in. The Cougars struck first, using a 9-0 run midway through the half to build a 20-14 lead. Galdeira poked away a steal and Presley raced coast-to-coast for a layup as she was fouled. Presley hit the free throw, Brown followed with a layup, junior guard Dawnyelle Awa sank two free throws and then made a steal and raced the length of the court for a layup that capped the run.

The Cardinal countered with five straight points but the WSU youngsters came up big as Pavlopoulou drained a three from the left wing and Brown added another bucket underneath. Minutes later, Pavlopoulou sank another three, this time from the left corner and Dheensaw scored again to push the lead to 30-24 at the 2:45 mark. Brown capped the half with a long three from the left corner in the final seconds to send the Cougars into the break up 33-28.

Three Cougars scored seven points in the first 20 minutes as WSU notched nine points off of eight Stanford turnovers. The Cardinal shot over 38 percent and both teams hit four 3-pointers in the first half.

Washington State opened the second on fire, highlighted by Presley's work from behind-the-arc. The senior hit a three from the right wing, Cooks later scored after getting a no-look pass from Galdeira before Presley connected on two more threes from the right wing, giving WSU a 44-35 lead and forcing a Stanford timeout. Minutes later, the lead grew to double-digits after a 6-0 run as Dheensaw scored from the low post, Galdeira scored after grabbing an offensive rebound and then Presley got a runner to fall for a 52-41 advantage at the 13:24 mark.

Stanford answered in a big way, rattling off nine straight points to cut the WSU lead to three with just over 10 minutes remaining. Pavlopoulou came up with a big shot for the Cougars, draining a three from the left corner to push the lead back up to six.

The Cougars later extended their lead to 60-52 with five straight points as Presley drove in for two, Brown added a free throw and Galdeira sank a jumper with 8:32 remaining. Stanford would make its run with just under the five minute mark, scoring eight straight highlighted by a three and two free throws from Bonnie Samuelson that gave the Cardinal its first lead since early in the first half, 66-65 with 2:04 remaining.

Back and forth both teams went, trading free throws for the next 90 seconds before Samuelson came up big once again, putting Stanford up two with a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left. Galdeira then took the inbounds pass and raced up the floor and into the right side of the lane, elevated and got her runner to go off the glass with three seconds left, tying the game at 71. Stanford's full-court heave was short, sending the game into overtime.

In overtime, a scramble for a loose ball in the opening seconds resulted in a foul call against Cooks, fouling her out and Stanford went on to sink both for an early lead while a key Cougar post player was sent to the bench. The Cardinal would open the extra period with a 9-2 run and never look back as WSU was limited to 1-of-8 in overtime, allowing Stanford to post an 86-76 victory.

The Cougars will hit the road next week for matchups at Oregon State Friday and Oregon, Sunday, both on the Pac-12 Networks.