PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University women's basketball team was held scoreless over the final three minutes of play against No. 18/19 Arizona State on Sunday afternoon, as the Sun Devils rallied late to score a 65-56 win over the Cougars in Beasley Coliseum.
Washington State held a 51-49 lead with 7:27 left to play in the fourth after a Bella Murekatete layup, but the Sun Devils rolled off three-straight buckets to take a 55-51 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the game. WSU pulled to within one at 57-56 after a Chanelle Molina 3-point field goal, but that would be the final bucket the Cougs would tally in the contest, as Arizona State kept WSU off the scoreboard over the final 3:11 to claim the nine-point road victory.
The loss drops WSU to 2-4 in Pac-12 Conference play, but they still maintain a 9-9 overall record on the year. For Arizona State, the win improves them to 15-4 overall and they now stand at 5-2 in league play.
The Cougars led for exactly 25 minutes of game time and held a 10-point advantage late in the third. Unfortunately, WSU was unable to seal the deal against the No. 18/19-ranked team in the country, as Washington State was outscored 23-10 in the fourth. The Cougs only managed a 3-of-13 shooting performance from the field in the frame, as ASU closed the game on a 10-2 run and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to secure the win.
Redshirt senior Borislava Hristova was the lone WSU player to score double-digits with a 22-point effort against the Sun Devils. Bobi Buckets did most of her damage in the final two quarters of play on Sunday, as she registered 16 of her 22 points during the final 20 minutes.
Senior Chanelle Molina followed up with nine points, while her youngest sister, Cherilyn Molina registered eight points off the bench. Freshman Grace Sarver tallied a career-high five points in 15 minutes of action off the bench, while Murekatete pulled down a team-best eight rebounds.
Washington State heads south to Los Angeles next weekend to take on USC and UCLA. The Cougs battle the Trojans on Friday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m. to kickoff the road trip to LA, before taking on the No. 7/8-ranked Bruins on Sunday, Jan. 26, at 12 p.m.
COUG QUOTES
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge on Today's Result: "I think there are a lot of positives to pull out of today's game. I thought we started great and had a lot of good energy, which is exactly what we need to do and how we need to play to successful. We did a lot of things today that would've beaten a lot of teams, but unfortunately we ran into a great defensive team and we struggled to score in the second half."
COUG NOTES
- Today's 22-point performance pushes Borislava Hristova's career point total to 2,042 points. It is also her 47th career game with 20-or-more points.
- Hristova's 22 points against No. 18/19 Arizona State extends her double-digit scoring streak to 12-straight games.
- Washington State falls to 0-7 against ranked teams this season. The Cougs have dropped 29-straight contests against Top-25 opponents, with the last victory over a rank team coming on Jan. 6, 2017 with an 82-73 win over No. 7/9 UCLA in Pullman.
- Senior Chanelle Molina had her seven-game double-digit scoring streak snap this afternoon with nine-point performance.
- With the loss, Washington State falls to 5-4 at Beasley Coliseum this season. The Cougs return to Pullman on Jan. 31 against Cal to kickoff a four-game Pac-12 home stand.
