PULLMAN, Wash. – A late fourth-quarter rally by the Washington State women's basketball team wasn't enough to overcome a slow start in the third quarter against No. 21/22 Arizona, as the Cougars fell to the Wildcats, 74-67, on Friday night in Beasley Coliseum.
The loss snaps Washington State's brief two-game winning streak, as they fall to 9-8 overall and 2-3 in Pac-12 Conference play. Meanwhile, Arizona breaks a three-game losing streak of their own, as they improve to 14-3 on the year and pull to an even 3-3 in Pac-12 games.
The Cougs came into the third trailing 35-32 after a first half that featured seven ties and seven lead changes. Arizona scored the first nine points out of the locker room to jump out to a 12-point lead at 44-32 to force WSU to call a timeout. Washington State was unable to respond, as the Wildcats led by as many as 16 points in the frame and took a 61-46 advantage into the night's final stanza.
Arizona opened the fourth with a 3-point field goal to push its lead to a game-high 18 points. That would be the only field goal they would make in the frame, as the Coug defense locked up the Wildcats over the final nine-plus minutes.
The defensive effort by WSU allowed them to claw back into the contest, as they pulled within seven points with 3:16 left to play after a Borislava Hristova layup. The Cougs got to within five points with 39 seconds left to play, but Arizona went a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe in the fourth to keep Washington State at arms-length.
Arizona got to the line 22 times compared to the Cougs nine on Friday night, as the No. 21/22-ranked team in the nation posted a 21-4 edge at the free throw line to offset Washington State's 56% shooting performance from the field and a 31-24 advantage on the boards for WSU. The Wildcat defense forced Washington State into 22 turnovers, which lead to a 23-17 advantage in points off turnovers.
Chanelle Molina and Borislava Hristova continued their spectacular senior seasons, as the duo combined for 33 points, with both shooting over 50% from the field. Molina led the charge with a 19-point effort on 8-of-15 from the field, while dishing out a game-high six assists. Meanwhile, Hristova, who was honored on court prior to today's contest for becoming Washington State's all-time leading scorer, chipped in 14 points on a 6-of-10 shooting performance.
Sophomore Ula Motuga tallied 10 points to round out a trio of double-digit scorers for Washington State. Redshirt junior Johanna Muzet came off the bench and hit a pair of clutch 3-point field goals and pulled down a career-best eight rebounds.
It will be a quick turnaround for the Cougars, as they're back in action on Sunday, Jan. 19, against No. 18 Arizona State. Tip-off against the Sun Devils is set for 12 p.m. in Beasley Coliseum.
COUG QUOTES
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge on Tonight's Decision: "I'm really, really disappointed with how we came out of the locker room. We played an aggressive Arizona team tonight, and credit goes to them. They are very quick and have a strong ability to guard and switch. Their (defensive) scheme really bothered us tonight, but I liked how we finished the game and how we fought. We changed the momentum a little bit, and it's unfortunate that we came out with that bad energy out of the half, because I think that was really the separator tonight.
COUG NOTES
- The loss to Arizona tonight snaps a two-game winning streak against the Wildcats.
- Senior Borislava Hristova scored 14 points tonight to push her double-digit scoring streak to 11 games. Tonight's performance puts her career point total at 2,020 points.
- Chanelle Molina's 19-point performance tonight extends her double-digit scoring stream to seven games.
- Tonight's 56% shooting performance from the field marks the seventh time this season WSU has shot 50%-or-better from the field in a game. They were previously 6-0 in games this season when shooting over 50% from the floor.
- Washington State owned the paint against No. 21/22 Arizona on Friday night. The Cougs outscored the Wildcats 38-22 in the paint and outrebounded them, 31-24.
