PULLMAN, Wash. – Fans enjoyed their first look at the 2015-16 Washington State women's basketball team, as the Cougars hosted Lewis-Clark State College in an exhibition match Sunday afternoon at Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars handed the Warriors a 79-37 defeat, as all 14 Washington State players scored in the victory. Freshmen Borislava Hristova and Alexys Swedlund led all scorers with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Under the new NCAA rules that changed the timing of the game to four, 10-minute quarters, the Cougars shot 45.5 percent from the floor (30-of-66), while recording 14 assists and 18 steals. WSU outrebounded the Warriors, 59-25, and limited LCSC to just 14 first-half points. Sophomore Louise Brown led the Cougars with nine rebounds, and senior Dawnyelle Awa snagged four steals.
Borislava Hristova, from Varna, Bulgaria, opened the scoring in the game as she made a three-point shot less than two minutes into the first quarter. The Cougars would go on to score 21 first-quarter points behind a pair of 3-pointers by fellow freshman Alexys Swedlund from Rapid City, S.D.
The Cougars continued to share the wealth in the first half, as Swedlund added another pair of 3-pointers and sophomore Pinelopi Pavlopoulou added a basket from outside. WSU entered the break leading 37-14. All but one Cougar player had tallied a point in the opening period.
In the third quarter, the Cougars found a hot hand, rattling off 13-unanswered points before the Warriors would score their first basket of the second half with 6:31 to play in the quarter. Redshirt-freshman Krystle McKenzie played her first minutes in a Cougar uniform late in the period, before scoring midway through the final quarter.
Redshirt-freshman Nike McClure also donned the Crimson and Gray for the first time, leading the Cougars with six points in the fourth quarter. True freshman Maria Kostourkova (Lisbon, Portugal) also settled in during the second half, scoring four points, while pulling in two rebounds.
The Cougars open their 2015-16 regular season Friday, Nov. 13, at 8:30 p.m. against UC Santa Barbara inside Beasley Coliseum. The game is part of a double-header with the WSU men's team, which plays Northern Arizona at 5:30 p.m.
