PROVO, Utah. - Down by as much as 14, the Washington State women's basketball team stormed back in the second half against BYU to claim a 72-64 win in the opening round of the 2017 Women's National Invitational Tournament. WSU (13-19) handed BYU (20-12) just its third loss at home in the Marriott Center while picking up its first postseason win in the modern NCAA era. Additionally, Wazzu's 14-point comeback tied for the fourth-largest comeback in program history, a mark the team eerily matched in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament just two week prior while defeating Colorado.

For WSU, life looked bleak in the opening 20 minutes of the contest as BYU proved to be nearly perfect in the first half to establish a commanding lead. While the shots refused to fall for Wazzu early, BYU opened the night hitting their first eight shots and nine of 11 in the first quarter as WSU trailed 22-11 after just 10 minutes of play. For WSU, the only thing keeping the game from completely getting out of hand was the fact that Wazzu was able to force BYU into six turnovers which meant six less shots. Down 11 and still struggling to find their shot, WSU continued to wreak havoc in the passing lanes in the second quarter forcing nine more turnovers in the second quarter alone which lead to 10 of Wazzu's 18 points in the frame. However, BYU would continue to shoot the lights out of the Marriott Center, missing just three times in 10 shots to hold WSU at bay with a 41-29 lead at the break.

With their backs against the wall and staring at the prospect of a long off season, WSU flipped a switch in the locker room that ignited what would be one of the most epic comebacks in program history. Raring to go, WSU ramped up its already swarming defense another notch which allowed Wazzu to begin to chip away at the BYU lead. Using the defense to start their own transition game, WSU ran off 12 of the first 15 points of the second half. Sparking the run were the WSU guards as Caila Hailey and Alexys Swedlund came up with 10 of the 12 points to get Wazzu back into the game. The duo also created six turnovers between them with WSU forcing nine more BYU mistakes in the third quarter alone.

Even with WSU nipping at its heels, BYU was able to stay just out front, pushing the lead back to double-digits at 56-45 with just over four minutes to play in the quarter on back-to-back three-pointers. Undeterred, WSU pressed the issue as Swedlund came up with five quick points and Wazzu closed the period on a 12-2 run to make it just a one-point game heading into the fourth.

With the writing on the wall and the momentum in hand, WSU tied the game up for the first time with six minutes to play after trailing for nearly 34 minutes. After trading baskets to knot the score at 62-62 with 5:37 to play, WSU finally broke through when Ivana Kmetovska hit a runner in the lane to put Wazzu in front for the first time in the game. The two from WSU's lone senior was part of an 8-0 run by Wazzu that stretched the lead to six while holding BYU scoreless for nearly five minutes. The stifling WSU defense would allow just two points to BYU over the final 5:47 of the contest as Wazzu closed the game out with a pair of free throws and one final steal from Swedlund in the contests waning moments.

In all, WSU shook off a less than ideal start to finish the game shooting 42.2% (27-64) from the field. Four Cougs hit double-figures in the win led by Swedlund's 19. She would bury three of six from deep to run her season total to 64, third-most in WSU single-season history. Right behind Swedlund, Hailey tied her career-best with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting including 5-of-6 from the line. She would also grab a career-best eight steals, one off the WSU record for a single contest and the most since 2010. Pinelopi Pavlopoulou finished her night with 11 points and a career and team best nine rebounds while Kmetovska kept her playing career alive with 12 points. As a team, the Cougars came up with 20 steals, the most since 2015, while forcing BYU into 29 turnovers.

After starting the game shooting 81.8% in the first, BYU slowly cooled off over the course of the game culminating in shooting just 21.4% (3-for-14) in the fourth quarter. Even with the low scoring fourth, BYU still managed to shoot 55.6% from the field, the highest shooting percentage for any team against WSU on the year. Makenzi Pulsipher, the WCC Player of the Year, led the way with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting while Cassie Broadhead added 14. Kalanie Purcell just missed a triple-double for BYU with eight points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. However, the three BYU standouts also accounted for 20 of BYU's 29 turnovers.

After getting dominated on the glass 23-10 in the first half, WSU turned the game around with a renewed effort on the rebounding end in the second half holding a 22-12 edge. Also helping their cause was WSU's 14-to-7 edge in made free throws as Wazzu went 14-of-22 from the line while BYU hit 7-of-15.

WSU continues its postseason Saturday in Laramie, Wyoming as the Cougars stay on the road to take on Wyoming in the second round of the WNIT. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m. MT on March 18. Wyoming earned its spot in the second round of play with a home, 68-52, win over Seattle Thursday night.