PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University women's basketball team nearly made up a 20-point deficit against Southern Cal on Senior Day at Beasley Coliseum, but the Cougars late rally would ultimately fall short, as WSU was handed a 66-60 loss to the Trojans on Sunday afternoon.
Washington State fans were bidding farewell to seniors Borislava Hristova and Chanelle Molina prior to tip-off, as Sunday's contest was the final home game of the 2019-20 regular season for the Cougars.
Molina closed out her time on the Palouse with a 23-point effort against the Trojans. The point guard drilled a season-high five 3-point field goals in the loss to USC, while she pulled down five rebounds and dished out two assists.
As for Hristova, who will leave WSU as the program's all-time leading scorer, she collected 11 points in her final game at Beasley to move her into 13th on the Pac-12 women's basketball all-time scoring list with 2,224 career points. The 11-point performance for Bobi Buckets extends her double-digit scoring streak to 22 games, which ties her with Jeanne Eggart (1981-82) for the second-longest double-digit scoring streak by a senior in Washington State women's basketball history.
Freshman Bella Murekatete made an impression on Senior Day, as the rookie scored 14 points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds against Southern Cal. Murekatete connected on six of her seven shot attempts agianst the Trojans, as she was one-point shy of her career-high.
The loss extends WSU's losing streak to five games, as they now stand at 11-17 on the year and 4-12 in Pac-12 Conference play. Meanwhile, USC improves to 14-13 overall and 6-10 in league play.
Washington State fell into an early hole against the Trojans, as USC jumped out to a 21-9 lead after 10 minutes of play. Southern Cal maintained its double-digit advantage over the Cougars for nearly the entire second quarter, as they lead WSU at the break, 37-19. USC pushed its advantage to a game-high 20 points with 3:36 left to play in the third, but Washington State closed the frame on a 13-4 run to pull within 11 points of the Trojans, 53-42, heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cougars scored the first six points in the final stanza to pull within six points, 53-47, after a Johanna Muzet layup with 7:27 left to play. USC withstood the WSU run and extended its lead back out to 10 points at 60-50 with less than four minutes remaining. The Cougars got within four points of the Trojans with 11 seconds left to play, but Southern Cal was able to convert at the free throw line and keep WSU at bay.
Washington State shot 39.1% against USC on Sunday, while the Trojans posted a 44.2% field goal percentage. Southern Cal held a 34-28 edge in the paint over WSU, as freshman post Alissa Pili scored a game-high 32 points and pulled down 12 rebounds against the Cougars.
WSU now heads out on the road next week to close out the 2019-20 regular season. The Cougars open their final two-game road trip on Friday, Feb. 28, at No. 3-ranked Oregon. Tip-off against the Ducks is set for 8 p.m. PT from Eugene, Oregon.
COUG QUOTES
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge on Today's Result: "I'm disappointed for our two seniors. I'm a little shellshocked in how we started the game and played in that first half. We found so many ways to lose games this year, and spotting a Pac-12 team an 18-point lead at the half is one of them now. I loved our grit and fight, and I thought we played a lot more physical in the second half, and because of that, we got back into the game. We played with a lot more enthusiasm and were a lot more aggressive in the second half. It was a tell of two halves. (USC) was more aggressive in the first half and it showed on the scoreboard, and we got a little better in the second half, but they had too big of a lead."
Coach Ethridge on her Seniors: "Bobi and Chanelle have done so much for this program, the people here and the university. They are great ambassadors for our program and they will represent Coug Nation forever in such an amazing way. You can't get better people than those two. I'm extremely fortunate to have coached them for two seasons and I wish we had a little more time with them. They bought into what we were doing as a staff and they have been great leaders for our program. They will leave this program in a much better place."
Borislava Hristova on Playing with Chanelle: "Playing with a player like Chanelle makes my job a lot easier on the court. I'm so proud of her because she has grown so much and it's great to see the progress that she has made. It's been a pleasure to play with her, and I'm hoping to play against her one day as a professional. She has done things that hasn't been done before here and I'm extremely proud of her."
Chanelle Molina on Playing with Borislava: "I admire Bobi for her work ethic, her focus and determination. She is always the first one in the gym, and I admire everything about her as a basketball player and as a person. I wouldn't want to play with anyone else over my career. I love playing with her, she makes my job easier, and I can't wait to watch her as she continues her career."
COUG NOTES
- With today's loss, Washington State ends the 2019-20 season with a 7-8 record at Beasley Coliseum.
- Redshirt senior Borislava Hristova surpassed Stanford's Kate Starbird (1994-97) for 13th on the Pac-12 women's basketball all-time scoring list. Hristova now has 2,224 career points and she needs 14 more points to surpass Arizona's Adia Barnes for 12th on the conference's all-time list.
- Today's 23-point performance marks the 13th game in Chanelle Molina's career that she has scored 20-or-more points.
- Freshman Bella Murekatete tallied 14 points in today's loss. That is one-point off of her career high in points, which she collected back on Dec. 15, 2019 with a 15-point performance inside Beasley against UC Irvine. It is only the third career double-digit scoring game for Murekatete.
