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PULLMAN, Wash. –  Never finding their offensive rhythm throughout 40 minutes of play, Washington State (7-13, 2-7) struggled to score points against No. 9 Oregon State (17-3, 7-1) who finished off the season sweep of the Cougars with a 52-35 win at Beasley Coliseum Sunday afternoon. From the outset the Cougars could not get their shots to fall, going long swaths of time with a lid on the rim. While WSU struggled to score, so too did the Beavers who managed to build just an eight-point lead at the break despite WSU scoring just 15 points in the opening half. As the majority of the Cougars and Beavers came up empty on open looks, OSU's Mikayla Pivec was the lone shooter to get into a rhythm early as the Beaver guard scored 13 of OSU's 23 first half points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor. While both teams picked up the play in the third quarter the fourth proved to be more of the same struggles for the Cougars and Beavers as WSu outscored OSU 7-5 over the first seven minutes of the final period before the Beavers netted the games final six points in the last two and a half minutes of play.
Coach Ethridge Quote of the Game
"I don't think you can over analyze this game just like you can't think too highly about playing well against Oregon. I think the thing with us is if we don't learn how to fight through adversity, and that's where we are, if I were to say the struggles of building a top program it's hard to get tradition. Oregon State has that now. Those kids know how to win. When you build a program that wins a lot I think you create a mindset with players and a better competitiveness with players and we're a doubting team. We're a team that hasn't won a lot and we don't know how to sometimes. How do you get better at that? You face it. You face it every single day and you put yourself in those positions. I challenged them to say, 'what did you do emotionally' to get ready for Oregon and what did you do today because it wasn't the same team."
Moments of the Game
Things You Need To Know
- WSU fell for the 11th-straight contest to the Beavers who swept the season series with the win at Beasley.
- The Cougars used a different starting lineup for the first time in 2018-19 with freshman Michaela Jones earning her first-career start alongside of the Cougars' four veteran players. Jones finished with five points, five rebounds, and two assists in 29 minutes of action.
- Chanelle Molina was the lone Cougar to reach double-figures in scoring with a team-high 12 points. She just missed her second double-double of the year adding nine rebounds to go with two assists.
- Borislava Hristova saw her 19-game double-digit scoring streak snapped as the Cougs' top scorer was limited to just nine points on 4-of-16 shooting. While her shot refused to fall, Hristova did match a career best with 12 rebounds.
- The Cougars' big three scorers of Hristova, Molina, and Alexys Swedlund came into the game averaging a combined 50.0 ppg but were held to just 21 points while shooting 8-of-38 from the field and 2-of-12 from deep.
- The Cougars' 35 points were a season low and the lowest scoring output for WSU since a 59-30 loss at Arizona State on Feb. 21, 2008. As a team, WSU shot just 25.5% (14-of-55).
- While the Cougars struggled offensively, so too did the Beavers who scored 52 points on 37.3% (22-of-59) shooting. Oregon State's totals were bolsterd by the shooting of Mikayla Pivec who finished the game with 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go with nine rebounds and three assists.
- WSU hits the road to Southern California where the Cougs will face UCLA, Friday, Feb. 1 with a 7 p.m. tip.
