PULLMAN, Wash. - Opening the final weekend of Pac-12 play at home against Utah, the Washington State women's basketball team suffered a 74-57 loss to the Utes Thursday night at Beasley Coliseum. With the loss the Cougs (10-18, 5-12 Pac-12) fell into a tie with Utah (16-12, 5-12 Pac-12) in the conference standings with one game left in the regular season. 

Falling behind 9-0 to start the game, the Cougs never recovered from their cold start as the Utes led wire-to-wire to earn the split with the Cougs for the season. With every run the Cougs managed to come up with the Utes had an answer. A 10-3 run after the rough start got the Cougs within two with just over two to play in the opening quarter, but Utah would score five unanswered to close the first. From there, WSU would get no closer than the seven-point first quarter deficit despite cutting an 18-point Utah advantage to just eight midway through the fourth. However, just like in the first quarter, the Cougs' 10-1 run was followed by an 11-0 spurt by the Utes as Utah put the game away in a two-minute burst of scoring.

Overall, the Cougs struggled from the floor shooting 27.3% (18-of-66) despite a 7-for-14 effort out of sophomore Alexys Swedlund who finished with a game-best 19 points. Swedlund came up with three of the Cougs' six three-pointers in the game while also hitting 2-of-4 from the line. Senior Ivana Kmetovska ended her night with 11 points to hit double-digits for the first time since scoring a career-best 16 against Colorado back on Feb. 3. Redshirt-sophomore Nike McClure was held in check on the scoreboard for the first time in four contests but was able to make her presence felt with a team-best 10 rebounds to go with three steals and one block. The 10 rebounds marked the second-straight double-digit rebound effort for McClure after posting 12 against #18/16 UCLA the Sunday prior.

The Utes shot 43.3% (26-for-60) from the field led by their lone senior, Paige Crozon, who scored 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting including 3-of-7 from deep. The Utes notched eight threes in the game, five of which came in the first half as Utah separated from the Cougs. Malia Nawahine got in on the outside barrage while matching Crozon by hitting 3-of-7 from distance. She finished her night with 15 points to go with six rebounds. Emily Potter, the Utes' 6-6 center, finished with a double-double after tallying 11 points and 12 rebounds. She would also record four blocks helping the Utes to post eight blocks on the night.

For the year, the two teams split the season series with each side claiming the victory on the road in hostile territory.

The Cougs will play their final game of the regular season Saturday, Feb. 25 with an afternoon contest against Colorado. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. from Beasley Coliseum with the Cougs celebrating senior day with WSU's lone senior, Kmetovska, prior to tip-off.