SALT LAKE CITY – The Washington State women's basketball team turned in a season-best offensive performance at Utah Friday, Jan. 1, as the Cougars picked up a 79-74 win over the Utes to ring in the new year.
The Cougs had a quartet of double-digit scorers to help them post their highest point total this season. Washington State shot a season-high 50% (29-58) from the field to give the Cougars their first win at the Huntsman Center since the 2016-17 season, while they also snapped a six-game losing streak to the Utes.
Washington State improves to 5-1 overall on the year and 3-1 in league play. For Utah, they fall to 2-5 on the year and 1-4 in the Pac-12. WSU has now won back-to-back Pac-12 road games for just the second time since the 2014-15 season. WSU also collected two consecutive road wins last season, when they picked up wins at Cal (96-75; Jan. 5, 2020) and at Washington (66-59; Jan. 11, 2020).
The offensive surge for WSU was sparked by a season-best nine 3-point field goals. Freshman Charlisse Leger-Walker drained a career-high five shots from behind-the-arc en route to a game-high 23 points. The reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Week was one of four Washington State players to eclipse double-digit points on Friday. Junior Ula Motuga and sophomore Bella Murekatete each posted a career-high in points, each player scored 16 points in the win. Senior Krystal Leger-Walker rounded out the group of double-figure scorers with a 12-point performance. The 12-point effort for the elder Leger-Walker sister is a new WSU career-high, while she also dished out a season-high eight assists.
Washington State's defense continued to shine in the win over Utah. Despite allowing their first team to score over 70 points against them this season, the Cougars were still able to force 18 Ute turnovers, which led to 19 WSU points. Charlisse Leger-Walker led the way on the afternoon with a team-high four steals, while a total of six WSU players had at least one takeaway against Utah.
Both teams came out on fire offensively to start the game, as they were tied up at 20-all after 10 minutes of play. Washington State was to finally able to gain some distance against the Utes in the second quarter, using a 10-2 run to turn a two-point deficit into a 35-31 lead with 4:40 remaining in the quarter.
The Cougars connected on four 3-point field goals in the second stanza, three of which came from the youngest Leger-Walker sister, to take a five-point lead into the locker room. Murekatete was key for Washington State in the first two quarters, as she scored 13 of her 16 points during the first 20 minutes of play.
Washington State didn't let up off the throttle out of the break, as they scored 16 of the frame's first 22 points to take a game-high 17-point lead at 60-43 with 2:24 remaining in the frame. Utah got into an offensive rhythm from that point, as they chipped away at the WSU lead throughout the fourth quarter and made it a one possession game at 77-74 with 10 seconds left to play in the game.
Junior Cherilyn Molina calmly knocked down a pair of FT's with four seconds remaining to extend the WSU lead to 79-74, then picked up game-clinching steal to help the Cougars claim the five-point victory.
Coug Quotes
Coach Ethridge on today's win: "I thought we did so many good things today. I thought we handled ourselves well on the road. I don't think we did a great job at finishing the game. What you saw was a team get really desperate. (Utah) got really aggressive and it threw us off a bit and we went really dry (offensively) at inopportune times. We still were able to make some really big plays and hit some really big shots to keep ourselves a little bit ahead. I love the experience that we get playing in these environments and these situations on the road. It will make us better moving forward."
Coach Ethridge on her team's offensive performance: "I think we're showing the signs of having some good (offensive) weapons. I don't think we're a surprise anymore. We're going to get someone's best efforts against Charlisse every night. She is a hard one to stop because she is so multi-dimensional. I thought Bella's start, and her making shots inside, was really good for us. I thought we got a little bit better defensively late in the first half. We came out with the same intensity in the third, then went dry. 79 points is awesome, but there will be plenty of things we'll see in film that we can improve on."
Coug Notes
- With the win, Washington State improves to 3-1 in Pac-12 play. It is the best start to a Pac-12 season for the Cougars since 2013-14 when they opened the year a perfect 5-0.
- Junior Ula Motuga matched her career-high in points on Friday against the Utes with 16. She has now scored in double-figures for the fourth time this season.
- Sophomore Bella Murekatete scored a career-high 16 points and collected a career-best four blocks in the win.
- Freshman Charlisse Leger-Walker has now scored 20-or-more points in four of her first six games to start her WSU career. She also extends her double-digit scoring streak to a team-best six games.
- The last time WSU shot 50% or better from the field came on Jan. 31, 2020 when the Cougars posted a 58.0 field goal percentage in a win over Cal at Beasley Coliseum.