Five Score In Double-Figures As The Cougs Storm Past Cal, 84-79

Sunday, January 29

Pullman, WA

12:00 PM

Washington State University

9-12, 4-6Pac-12

California

15-7, 3-7Pac-12

Cal

Washington State

Five Score In Double-Figures As The Cougs Storm Past Cal, 84-79

January 29, 2017 | Women's Basketball

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The Cougs finished off their home stand with a win over the Bears.

By: Athletic Communications

PULLMAN, Wash. - Thanks to five Cougs scoring in double-figures the Washington State women's basketball team overwhelmed Cal, 84-79, Sunday afternoon at Beasley Coliseum to pick up a tough Pac-12 victory. The win for WSU (9-12, 4-6 Pac-12) snapped a four-game skid for the Cougars while moving out of a tie with the Bears (15-7, 3-7 Pac-12) in the conference standings.

Starting strong and finishing even stronger, the Cougs came up with a much needed win thanks to a balanced attack and a swarming defense. In all, the Cougars saw five score in double-figures for the first time since Dec. 4 in an overtime contest with Boise State. Leading the way in the backcourt was sophomore Alexys Swedlund with a team-best 18 points off the bench while junior Pinelopi Pavlopoulou added 13 points, all coming in the second half. The Cougars' front court came up big with a combined 48 points as senior Ivana Kmetovska scored a career-best 16 while sophomores Maria Kostourkova and Nike McClure added season-best performances with 12 and 10 respectively. For McClure, the 10 in the paint tied a career best mark as well.

The 48 points by the Cougars' bigs were needed to offset the 32 points scored by Cal's all-american center, Kristine Anigwe. Despite Anigwe getting her 32 points on just 19 shots, the Cougars were able to contain the rest of the Bears throughout the day thanks to forcing 24 turnovers on a season-best 17 steals. Courtney Range and CJ West each joined Anigwe in double-figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Late in the game the Cougs sealed their victory with clutch free throws, shaking off a season of struggles to finish 14-of-17 at the line including hitting 8-of-9 in the fourth quarter. With the game in doubt, it was all Pavlopoulou down the stretch as the Athens native hit all six of her freebies in the fourth quarter including drilling two with :03 seconds to play. Earlier, Pavlopoulou made a pair of free throws with 6:47 to play after taking a flagrant foul from Anigwe that kicked off the final run for WSU. The two free throws put the Cougs up two possessions which would prove to be enough cushion to finish off the contest. The cushion softened every punch the Bears would throw at the Cougs as WSU had an answer from a late tip-in and three-point play from Caila Hailey to a blow-by layup from Swedlund with :51 seconds remaining. Earlier, Hailey and Swedlund also had back-to-back buckets in the quarter's opening minutes that proved to be the game's final lead change.

Early on, it was the Cougs' bigs who set the tone as McClure and Kostourkova combined for 12 points in the first 10 minutes. In the second quarter it was Kmetovska who found her groove with six points including a jumper with :03 seconds to play in the half that cut the deficit to just one point at intermission. She would add eight more in the third quarter using an array of spin moves and close range jumpers to do her damage. The eight from Kmetovska bolstered the Cougs' attack as WSU came up with 23 points to take a two point lead into the final quarter. Fittingly for a game that was not truly decided until the contest's waning moments there were 20 lead changes throughout the day including 15 in the third quarter alone.

In all, the Cougs shook off their shooting woes from the last two games to finish at 45.8% (33-of-72) from the floor while hitting 4-of-21 from deep. WSU's 82.4% from the line marked a season-best for the Cougs. The Bears would shoot 52.7% (29-of-55) from the floor in the loss as they hit just 1-of-10 from deep. At the line, Cal stayed in the game thanks to 20-of-23 made free throws with Anigwe making all six of her attempts.

Washington State hits the road for the start of February beginning with a contest in Boulder, Colo. against Colorado, Friday, February 3. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. MST.