LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Bolstered by a season-best 53-point first half and a career-effort out of junior forward Louise Brown the Washington State Women's Basketball team came up with a 79-65 victory over Nebraska to start the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout on Friday night. The Cougars (4-1) used a hot-shooting opening 20 minutes to flummox an overwhelmed Husker (3-2) side en route to their first win away from Beasley Coliseum on the young season.

For the second-straight game, Brown came up with a career effort on the court as the third-year Coug netted a team-best 16 points to lead WSU's attack. For Brown, it was all about the opening half as she matched her previous career effort of 14 points including netting an all-time high four threes in the first 20 minutes. She would finish her night with seven rebounds, two blocks, and three steals for the all-around effort. Right behind her classmate in the scorebook, junior Pinelopi Pavlopoulou scored a season-best 10 points to go with five assists and two steals while spear-heading the Cougar offense throughout the night.

In what would be the Cougars' best scoring quarter of the season to date, the first 10 minutes of the contest proved to be a battle of wills between the two sides as WSU found their shot early from the outside while the Huskers dominated the paint to come up with their scoring. Led by Brown from deep, the Cougs drilled five of their eight first half three-pointers in the first quarter of play to counter an 18-6 advantage for Nebraska near the basket. The two teams would trade the lead eight times throughout the opening stanza until Pavlopoulou scored five-unanswered points to turn a two point Nebraska lead into a three-point Cougar lead with :32 seconds to play.

The change in the lead would be the final time the Huskers found themselves within striking distance of the Cougars as WSU put the game away in the second quarter thanks to a 26-10 scoring binge. In just under two minutes, the Cougars turned their three-point quarter lead into a nine-point advantage as they ratcheted up the defense to hold the Huskers quiet on the offensive end. The defense would continue to stymie Nebraska throughout the quarter, even holding the Huskers without a point for the final 4:31 of the half as the Cougars grew their advantage to 19 points to lead 53-34 at the break. Fittingly it was Brown who scored the final bucket of the half as she banked in a three with :05 seconds remaining in the quarter to give the Cougars their eighth three-pointer in the half.

Out of the break the Cougs pushed their run to 18-0 by scoring the first six points of the third before a Husker layup with 8:31 to go in the frame snapped Nebraska's seven minute scoring drought. WSU was able to push its lead to as much as 30 points midway through the quarter before the well dried up for the Cougars. Leading 68-38 with 5:27 to play in the quarter, the Cougars went cold from the floor as they scored just three points, all from the line, for the rest of the frame allowing the Huskers to climb back into the contest. Over the eight minutes stretch of the game and into the fourth quarter the Cougars could not find a basket as they scored just one field goal, a Maria Kostourkova layup, allowing Nebraska to go on a 24-5 run that cut the WSU lead to just 11 with 7:12 to play. The Cougars would finally snap out of it after a timeout called by the bench thanks to a Borislava Hristova jumper that stopped the bleeding and got the team back on track for the final run to the finish. WSU would hold the Huskers without a basket for just over four minutes while running off the clock to hold off the late charge and come away with the big victory. Hristova finished the game with nine points while Caila Hailey added nine as well to go along with seven rebounds.

As a team, the Cougars shot 32-of-68 (47.1%) from the floor while hitting 8-of-20 (40.0%) from deep in the game. After the tough start in the paint, WSU evened the battle in the key to finish with 36 points in the paint to the Huskers' 36. The Cougars would win the turnover battle by forcing 23 give-aways that led to 30 points while giving up 14 points on 20 turnovers. 

The Huskers were led by Jessica Shepard who scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds. No other Nebraska player reached double-figures in the game despite the Huskers managing to shoot 48.1% from the field.

WSU is back in action on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 3:30 pm for game two of the shootout as the Cougars look to upset the No. 5 team in the country, the unbeaten Maryland Terrapins.