Defensive Swarm Leads The Cougars Past USF

Friday, November 18

Pullman, WA

7:00 PM

Washington State University

3-0

San Francisco

2-1

San Francisco

Washington State

Photo by: Washington State Athletics

November 18, 2016 | Women's Basketball

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WSU Women's Hoops came away with the rout thanks to a defensive effort almost 40 years in the making.

By: Athletic Communications

PULLMAN, Wash. – Behind a swarming defense and a balanced attack the Washington State women's basketball team routed San Francisco, 73-35, on Friday night in front of the Cougar faithful at the Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars (3-0) picked up their third-straight win to open the season while handing the Dons (2-1) their first loss. The 35 points allowed was the second lowest point total for a WSU opponent in nearly 40 seasons.

Shaking off a slow start in the opening moments of the contest the Cougars caught fire in the opening quarter behind the play of sophomore Borislava Hristova who came up with seven-straight points to open the flood gates. Hristova would bookend a three with a pair of layups that put the Cougs up 13-7 early. After a field goal from the Dons made it a 13-9 contest, WSU caught fire, outscoring an overwhelmed Don squad 12-0 over the final four minutes of the quarter including picking up three-straight down low from sophomore Maria Kostourkova
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Heading into the second the Cougars' defense continued to stifle the Dons, holding USF without a point for almost three minutes to start the quarter. WSU would also find a lid on their basket to open the quarter before a free throw and a put-back by senior Ivana Kmetovska got the Cougs back on track. Moments later, a stutter and a strong finish by Pinelopi Pavlopoulou got the junior an old fashioned three-point play. Freshman Kayla Washington would muscle her way to her own and-one with 1:16 to play in the half as WSU would lead by 18 at the break.

The second half and especially the third quarter would be all Cougars as WSU pushed its comfortable advantage into blowout territory with a 22-8 scoring binge. After watching her young teammates control the opening 20 minutes the third quarter was dominated by the Cougars' elder statewoman as Kmetovska scored six of the team's first 12 points to turn up the pressure. With the offense rolling the defense came on strong as the Cougs held the Dons to just eight points in the quarter, turning their 18-point lead into a 32-point advantage after 30 minutes.

In the fourth, the Cougs would hold the Dons to just eight points for a second time including just two over the final four minutes of the contest to run away with the second half. Overall, the Dons hit just three field goals in each of the final two quarters as WSU held USF to just 24.1% shooting for the game.

The Cougars saw three players reach double figures in scoring led by Kmetovska's career-best 13 while Hristova and Kostourkova each chipped in 11. Nine different Cougars scored on the night while just Brittany Howard, the Dons' preseason All-WCC selection, was held to just 10 points including two in the second half.

WSU forced 35 turnovers on the night which led to 24 points while also blocking six shots. The Cougs held a 49-to-39 rebounding edge with junior Louise Brown pulling down a game-high nine. She would also add nine points to finish just shy of the double-double. Washington was not far behind with seven rebounds to go with nine points.

The Cougars are back in action on Sunday, Nov. 20 when they host Oklahoma State (3-0) at the Beasley Coliseum at 12:00 pm. The game can be seen on the Pac-12 network.