Closing out a month on the road, the Cougs saw all of their work come to fruition as WSU came up with one of their most complete and well-balanced efforts of the season. In the victory the Cougars saw four players score in double-figures led by a career-effort out of their freshman point, Chanelle Molina, who scored 20 points for the first time. Molina's 20-point effort marked her ninth-straight game with double-digit scoring as she bumped her scoring average to 11.1 ppg. She would also add a team and career-best six rebounds.
Not to be outdone, sophomore Alexys Swedlund poured in 16 points for the Cougs while hitting 3-of-7 from deep. Junior Caila Hailey came up with her own career-effort with 12 points while working as the Cougars' defensive catalyst that held Oregon to a season-low 59 points and forced the Ducks into 21 turnovers. Rounding out the scoring, senior Ivana Kmetovska finished her afternoon with 10 points to record her third-straight double-digit game to begin Pac-12 play. Not far behind, junior Pinelopi Pavlopoulou fell one point shy of 10 as she scored nine off the bench.
It would be Pavlopoulou's three-ball at the end of the first quarter that gave the Cougars the lead for good after a back-and-forth battle through the first 10 minutes made for an entertaining start to what would become an easy win. The three-pointer by Pavlopoulou gave Wazzu a two-point lead at the quarter break after which the Cougs would put the pedal down and leave the Ducks in the distance.
Despite hitting just two more three-pointers than the Ducks and finishing the game with seven total, it was the shots from deep that came at pivotal moments for the Cougars as they never let the Ducks back into the game. In the second quarter, the Cougars hit back-to-back threes from Molina and fellow youngster Kayla Washington to extend their lead to double-digits for the first time in the game with 5:06 to play in the half.
After the lead fell to just three right out of the halftime break, Swedlund kicked off what would be the game's deciding run with two-straight threes that began an 11-1 run for the Cougs over a three-minute period. The Cougars' lead would push to 15 by the end of three quarters and as much as 18 midway through the final quarter before finally settling on the final margin of 16.
Offensively, the Cougars shot 44.8% (30-for-67) from the floor while holding the Ducks to 36.5% (19-of-52) shooting. Defensively, the Cougars never gave the Ducks a chance to breathe and regroup as the swarming defense came up with 11 steals and forced numerous bad shots.
For the Ducks, Lexi Bando came up with a team-best 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting while playing all but one minute of the contest. Ruthy Hebard finished her day with 14 points and eight rebounds while hitting 8-of-12 from the line. The Ducks were awarded 26 free throws on the afternoon but made just 16 while the Cougars went 8-for-12 from the line as a team.
The Cougs return home for the first time since Dec. 4 when they take on No. 10 UCLA at Beasley Coliseum, Friday, Jan. 6. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. and marks WSU's annual Dads and Daughters Date Night. For just $10 fans get one adult and one youth ticket and a Cougar mug (for dads) and a Cougar T-shirt or Sweatshirt (for daughters).