PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University women's basketball team got a 29-point performance from redshirt senior Borislava Hristova against No. 8/7 UCLA on Friday, Feb. 21, but the Cougars would go cold down the stretch, as the Bruins mounted a 70-62 comeback victory over WSU at Beasley Coliseum in Pac-12 Conference action.
Playing their second-to-last game in Pullman, Hristova and fellow senior Chanelle Molina nearly willed the Cougars to their first upset over a ranked opponent since the 2016-17 season. The duo scored 44 of the team's 62 points against the Bruins, as Molina followed Hristova's 29-point performance with a 15-point effort of her own.
Washington State led against the No. 8/7-ranked team in the country for 34:22 on Friday, and held a three-point advantage at 60-57 with 3:36 left to play after an old-fashioned three-point play from Hristova. That would be the final field goal in the game for WSU, as the Cougs only managed to hit only two free throws over the final three-and-a-half minutes of the game. Conversely, the Bruins ended Friday night by hitting four of their final five shot attempts from the field en route to an 13-1 run to close out the contest and give UCLA the eight-point victory.
With the loss, Washington State's losing streak extends to four games. The Cougars now sit at 4-12 in Pac-12 play and 11-16 overall on the year. For UCLA, they improve to 12-3 in league games and 23-3 overall this season.
Hristova connected on 52.2% of her shot attempts (12-of-23) in the 29-point performance. Tonight's performance marks the 49th time in Hristova's career that the forward has scored 20-or-more points in a game as a Cougar. It is also the 13th time this season that Hristova has eclipsed the 20-point plateau in a game.
As for Molina, the senior point guard once again flittered with a double-double, as the Kailua Kona, Hawai'i native pulled down a team-best nine rebounds, while she dished out a game-high five assists in 40 minutes of action.
Washington State got off to a quick start on Friday, as they forced UCLA into seven turnovers over the first four minutes of action to take an early 8-0 lead. WSU lead by as many as 11 points in the first quarter, and maintained its double-digit advantage until late in the second stanza. UCLA would end the half on a 9-2 run to cut the Cougar lead to three at 34-31 heading into the locker room.
The two teams went back-and-forth in the third quarter, as the frame featured six ties and three lead changes. However after 30 minutes of play, Washington State was still clinging to a one-point lead at 52-51 to set the stage for the fourth.
The Cougars scored four of the first six points in the final quarter to take a three-point lead, but UCLA connected on 40% (6-of-15) of its shot attempts in the fourth and went 7-of-7 from the charity stripe to mount the comeback over the Cougars.
WSU shot 43.1% in the loss, which edged UCLA's 34.4% shooting performance on Friday. The Cougars were able to outscore the Bruins 32-16 in points in the paint, however UCLA grabbed 14 offensive rebounds on Friday, which led them to a 14-0 advantage in second-chance points. The Bruins also connected on 6-of-14 from behind the arc against Washington State on Friday. The Cougars held UCLA to zero 3-point field goals in their previous matchup back on Jan. 26 in Los Angeles.
Washington State will conclude the home portion of its 2019-20 season this Sunday, Feb. 23, when they play host to USC. Tip-off against the Trojans is set for 11:30 a.m. PT. Senior Day festivities will take place prior to Sunday's tip.
COUG QUOTES
Head coach Kamie Ethridge on Tonight's Result: "I'm really proud of our team and how hard they played. Their start to the game was unbelievable energy wise. We got an tremendous effort from Bobi and Chanelle, two kids you expect it from. That is a good UCLA team that has so many weapons, and its hard to hold them down for the entire game. They have the ability to put points up on the board in a lot of different ways. We had some answers, but not all of them, and that's a credit to how they are built. However, I'm very impressed with my team tonight and I'm proud of the way we played."
COUG NOTES
- WSU also falls to an even 7-7 at home on the year, while they are now 0-12 against ranked opponents this season. Washington State has now loss 33-straight games against ranked opponents, as the last win over a top-25 foe came on Jan. 6, 2017 against No. 9/7 UCLA in Pullman.
- The 29-point performance for redshirt senior Borislava Hristova pushes her career point total to 2,213. She needs just three more points to move past Stanford's Kate Starbird (1994-97) for 13th on the Pac-12 women's basketball all-time scoring list.
- Tonight's start marks the 120th of Borislava Hristova's career. She is now the program's all-time leader in games started.
- Freshman Bella Murekatete pulled down 10 rebounds in the loss to UCLA. The 10-carom effort marks the second time in her career that she has pulled down double-digit rebounds. The first came back on Dec. 15, 2019 when she tallied a career-high 13 rebounds against UC Irvine.
- With 29 points tonight, redshirt senior Borislava Hristova extended her double-digit scoring streak to 21 games.
