Borislava Hristova
69
Washington State WSU 6-7
76
Winner Oregon State OSU 11-2
Washington State WSU
6-7
69
Final
76
Oregon State OSU
11-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Washington State WSU 14 17 23 15 69
Oregon State OSU 16 28 12 20 76

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Athletic Communications

Cougars Upset Bid Falls Short at No. 11 Oregon State

WSU held a late lead but the Beavers came up with a championship push late to avoid the upset.

In Case You Missed It ...
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Down by 13 at halftime, Washington State (6-7, 1-1) mounted a furious second half rally against No. 11 ranked Oregon State (11-2, 1-0) only to come up just short in a 76-69 loss Friday night at Gill Coliseum. Despite a rough go of it in the second quarter, the Cougars came out blazing in right out of the locker room, scoring the first seven points of the new period to cut the deficit in half just minutes in. With the shots falling and the defense smothering the Beavers' shooters, the Cougars continued to chip away at the Beavers' lead, finally overtaking OSU for the first time with just under two minutes to play when redshirt-sophomore Jovana Subasic buried back-to-back threes from the top of the arc, the last of which put WSU up 54-52. The Cougars would settle for just a two-point deficit at the end of three as OSU hit a buzzer-beater from just inside the arc to cap a 4-0 finish to the quarter. After OSU scored the first point of the fourth, the Cougars would put together an 11-4 run to retake the lead, posting a four-point advantage, capped by a Chanelle Molina jumper with 3:21 to play in the game. The basket by the junior point guard would be the last field goal of the game for the Cougars as the well went inexplicably dry over the final minutes of the game, allowing the Beavers to rally and close the game on a 14-4 run to avoid the upset. OSU would ice the game from the line by hitting 5-of-6 free-throws in the final :32 seconds. The 14 points in the final 2:49 of the game would nearly double the Beavers output for the half as the Cougs had held OSU to just 16 points in the first 17 minutes of the half.

Prior to the second half classic, the Cougars found themselves trailing by double-digits at the break, 44-31, thanks in large part to a barrage of threes, the Beavers, who shot 5-for-9 from behind the arc in the second quarter. While the Beavers hit from deep the Cougars struggled in the first half going 0-for-3 from distance. Reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week Borislava Hristova did her best to keep the Cougars in the game, scoring 14 in the opening half including eight of WSU's 14 first quarter points. Molina started finding her rhythm in the second quarter with seven of the 16 coming in the frame, but it was not until the rest of the team found their way that the Cougars began to find their way in the game.


Coach Ethridge Quote of the Game
"I'm just really proud of how our kids played. It shows you how far we've come to get down like that and come out at halftime and really respond and really play a fantastic second half. All but six or eight minutes we played a fantastic game. We let them kill us with threes in the second quarter and break away which was probably the difference in the game, but what a great response from our kids. I am disappointed that I didn't help us better in the last two and a half minutes. I just didn't get the calls at that point and I am going to kick myself over that, but we put ourselves in place to steal a road win and just fell short. We made some real progress tonight in how we competed."

Moments of the Game Things You Need To Know
  • WSU dropped below .500 after seeing its mini win-streak come to an end. The Beavers won for the 10th-straight time in the all-time series and fifth-straight time in Gill Coliseum.
  • Borislava Hristova scored a game-high 24 points in her first game inside Gill. Hristova missed her first two chances to play in Corvallis due to injury. Her 24-points marked her third-straight game with 20+ points and eighth such game on the year. She has scored in double-figures in all 13 games on the season, a career-best streak for the redshirt-junior.
  • Chanelle Molina record her first-career double-double with 16 points and a career-best 10 rebounds, seven of which came in the second half. She added six assists and two steals to her stat line.
  • Jovana Subasic scored a career-best 13 points in just 16 minutes off the bench. She hit a career-best 3-of-4 from deep, each one giving the Cougars the lead or tying the game. 
  • Oregon State put three in double figures led by Mikayla Pivec's 14 points. Destiny Slocum and Aleah Goodman added 12 and 10, respectively.
  • The Cougars lost for just the third time when outshooting their opponent as WSU outshot OSU 42.6% to 40.3%. The Beavers held the edge from deep 9(21)-5(15) and at the line 13(21)-6(9).
  • WSU committed a season-low eight turnovers while forcing 12.
  • The Cougars play the final of three road games to start Pac-12 play Sunday, Jan. 6 at No. 5 Oregon. The game is scheduled for 3 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.
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