PULLMAN, Wash. – For the first time on the year the Washington State women's basketball team suffered a loss as the Cougars fell, 79-72, in overtime to Oklahoma State on Sunday afternoon. The loss marked the second-straight season WSU (3-1) saw their opening win streak come to an end at the hands of the Cowgirls (4-0).

In the loss junior Louise Brown came up with her second career double-double as the third year Coug scored 11 points and grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds. Freshman Chanelle Molina had her finest showing in her young career as the point guard scored a season-best 15 points for her first double-digit scoring effort.

Battling a bigger OkSU squad, the Cougars found themselves struggling in the paint as the Cowgirls pushed ahead in the early minutes of the afternoon. Despite the disadvantage underneath, the Cougars used their speed on defense to harass OkSU on the perimeter while using their outside shot to do damage on the scoreboard. The Cougs would hit a pair of threes in the quarter kicked off by junior Caila Hailey. Hailey also found herself in the middle of a final minute flurry that saw the Cougs come up with four quick points to cut the deficit after 10 minutes to just one at 16-14. She would finish the game with eight points and three rebounds to go with a season-best five steals.

Down one, Brown opened the second quarter with a jumper off the glass to give the Cougars their first lead of the day at 17-16 as WSU continued its run to end the opening quarter. The two teams would battle back and forth Molina came up with back-to-back layups on the break putting back out front. The lead would be short lived for WSU as a nearly four-minute scoring drought put the Cougs in catchup mode thanks to a 9-0 run by the Cowgirls that made it a 31-26 game with just over 1:30 to play. After a banked in three at the end of the shotclock put the Cowgirls ahead by six in the final seconds, Molina would not be denied as the young point guard threw up a rainbow from half-court as time expired to cut the deficit in half at 34-31 as the team went into the break.

In the half, Molina led the way for the Cougs with 11 points but woes at the free throw line (4-of-12) allowed the Cowgirls to escape into the locker room with the lead. On the other side of the ball, Kaylee Jensen posted 13 points and 10 rebounds in 18 minutes of action to lead the Cowgirl attack.

Out of the break the Cougs' senior put the team on her back as Ivana Kmetovska scored the first five points of the new half to knot the contest at 36-36 with just over five minutes to play in the period. Unfortunately for WSU the made free throw by Kmetovska would be their last points for 2:30 minutes allowing the Cowgirls to go on a 6-0 run. The Cowgirls would extend their lead to its largest of nine points at 48-39 with 1:36 to play in the quarter before another big three by Hailey stopped the bleeding. One minute later Brown would drill one from the corner in front of the Cougs' bench to cut the lead to just three once again at 49-46 heading into the fourth.

The fourth saw the Cowgirls swell their lead to as much as seven midway through the quarter as the Cougars saw every run made answered in kind. Trailing by five with just 1:45 to play in the game the Cougars were able to tighten the screws defensively and make the necessary shots on the other end to give them a chance. After cutting the Cowgirl lead to just two, the Cougs forced a turnover with :23 seconds remaining to grab possession for the last shot. Out of the timeout, WSU had the perfect play drawn up as Brown setup her defender and beat her on the backside for an easy layup as Kmetovska found her with a perfect pass to tie the game and send the contest into overtime.

Despite appearing to grasp the momentum heading into the extra frame the Cougars could not find their rhythm in the overtime as the Cowgirls outscored WSU 15-8 in the final five minutes to pull away with for the win.

Jensen would finish the game with 29 points and 17 rebounds for OkSU while Mandy Coleman would add 13 points and 12 rebounds. For the Cougs, sophomore Borislava Hristova came up with a team-best 17 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime.

The Cougars had their chances throughout the game but finished just 17-of-33 from the line while the Cowgirls went 21-of-32. OkSU outshot WSU, 38.0%-to-32.0% for the game as the Cougs struggled to finish near the basket throughout the day missing 13 point-blank attempts to be outscored 40-26 in the paint.

WSU will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 25 against Nebraska as the two teams kick off play at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout in Las Vegas, Nev.