PULLMAN, Wash. - Taking on their second top-10 opponent in as many games, the Washington State women's basketball team suffered a 76-54 loss at home to No. 10/10 Stanford, Friday night, at Beasley Coliseum. The Cougars (8-12, 3-6 Pac-12) could not find their offensive rhythm until late against the Cardinal (18-3, 8-1 Pac-12) who kept pace with No. 7/7 Washington at the top of the Pac-12 standings.

Despite a slow start, the Cougs put two in double-figures in the loss as both junior Pinelopi Pavlopoulou and sophomore Alexys Swedlund scored 13 points. Pavlopoulou, in her third start, came up with a team-best three assists and four steals while playing a career-high 29 minutes. Just behind the duo, freshman Johanna Muzet continued to find her footing in increased minutes on the court as she scored nine points on a career-best three three-pointers while added two rebounds and one assist.

As a team, the Cougars struggled from the field at just 29.0% (20-of-69) which led to 36 defensive rebounds for the Cardinal. Stanford finished the game with 48 total rebounds led by Karlie Samuelson's and Briana Roberson's seven. Samuelson also scored a team-best 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting while hitting 4-of-9 from distance. She led three Cardinal in double-figures as Alanna Smith added 12 points while Erica McCall scored 10. Smith would add four blocks and four rebounds to her totals in 26 minutes of action. The Cardinal shot 51.9% (27-of-52) from the floor in the game while also going 7-for-20 from behind the arc and 15-of-20 from the line.

From the outset Washington State struggled to get the open looks to fall as the Cardinal rolled out to a 21-12 lead in the first quarter thanks in part to a 10-1 start that saw them score on their first four trips down the court. The Cougs would cut the deficit to four but get no closer the rest of the way as WSU's shooting woes during its current home stand kept the team from making a run back at Stanford. The Cardinal would put the game out of reach out of the halftime break when they scored the first 13 points of the second half to push their lead to 30. The Cougs would find their offensive flow in the game's final 10 minutes, but the scoring push would prove to be too little to make up the difference.

In all, WSU forced the Cardinal into a season-high 23 turnovers while coming up with 10 steals, the most in the last six contests. The Cougs turned the Cardinal mistakes into 19 points.

Washington State closes out its three-game home stand Sunday, January 29, when the Cougs host Cal at Beasley Coliseum. The lone meeting between the two teams in the regular season is scheduled for 12 p.m.