PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State women's basketball team put on a strong offensive display against Jackson State Saturday, Dec. 17, as the Cougars shot over 50 percent as a team to post an 83-56 win over the Tigers at Beasley Coliseum.
WSU got out of the gates on fire, as the Cougars shot 53.1 percent from the floor over the first two quarters of play to build a 20-plus point advantage. Washington State connected on eight 3-point field goals over the first two stanzas, led by junior Charlisse Leger-Walker, who sank five 3-pointers over the first 20 minutes of play.
Leger-Walker scored 17 points in the first half en route to a 20-point performance for the All-Pac-12 guard. Leger-Walker was one of three WSU players to score double-digit points against Jackson State on Saturday and she flirted with a triple-double, adding eight rebounds and five assists to her stat line.
Senior Bella Murekatete posted a double-double against the Tigers, as she scored 14 points and pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds. It is the fourth double-double for Murekatete this season, while it is the ninth total of her WSU career. Fellow senior Johanna Teder followed with 11 points to record her sixth double-digit scoring performance over the last seven games. Freshman Kyra Gardner added a career-high nine points off the bench for Washington State.
WSU shot 50.8 percent from the field against Jackson State, while the Tigers shot 28.6 percent. The Cougars were plus-12 on the glass, which led to Washington State outscoring Jackson State 16-5 in second chance points. Washington State also connected on 10 3-point field goals against WSU in the victory.
Washington State got out of the gates hot, as the Cougars held a 10-5 advantage heading into the first media timeout. The Cougars would not ease off the pressure, as back-to-back 3-pointers from Leger-Walker gave the Cougars a 19-10 advantage. Washington State maintained its nine-digit lead through the remainder of the first quarter, as the Cougars held a 21-12 advantage at the end of 10 minutes of play.
The Cougs' hot-shooting continued into the second stanza, as Washington State hit a blistering 58.8% from the floor and hit four 3-point field goals as a team in the second. The strong shooting performance allowed Washington State to jump out to a 24-point lead at the break, as Leger-Walker sank her fifth 3-pointer of the half right before the halftime buzzer to give WSU a 47-23 lead heading into the locker room.
WSU continued to expand its lead over the final two quarters of play, as Washington State led by as many as 35 points before settling for the 83-56 victory over Jackson State in the final non-conference home game of the 2022-23 season. The Cougars conclude the non-conference a perfect 5-0 at Beasley Coliseum.
Head Coach Kamie Ethridge on the Win
"I really liked the response from our team after the loss that we had. You never know how the team will respond in that environment. I thought we were really focused and were locked in defensively and in some areas that we wanted to emphasize. You've got to love beating this quality of a team by as much as we did. We played at a pretty high level for over 40 minutes."
Coug Notes
- With the win, Washington State improves to 8-2 on the year. It is WSU's best start through the first 10 games under Head Coach Kamie Ethridge and ties for Washington State's best 10-game start since the 2015-16 season when WSU also went 8-2.
- WSU extends its home winning streak against non-conference opponents to 11 games. WSU is 19-4 against non-Pac-12 teams at Beasley Coliseum under Coach Ethridge.
- WSU is now 2-0 against SWAC teams this season and 5-0 against teams from the SWAC since 1999.
- With her 20-point performance, Leger-Walker moves past Yvonne Kunze (15th; 1,139 pts) on WSU's all-time scoring list as she is now tied for 14th in program history with AlexysSwedlund with 1,157 career points.
- Leger-Walker has now scored double-digit points in 56 career games at WSU and scored 20 or more points in a game in 29 games at WSU.
- Leger-Walker also extends her double-digit scoring streak to 11 games.
- Bella Murekatete extends her double-digit scoring streak to six games, as she records her 39th career game at WSU with 10 or more points.
- Murekatete has now recorded four double-doubles over the last eight games. She now has nine double-doubles in her WSU career.
- Johanna Teder scores double-digit points for the sixth time this season and the 24th time as a Cougar with an 11-point performance.
- Washington State improves to 20-4 all-time when Teder scores 10 or more points in a game.
Up Next
Washington State returns to action this Monday, Dec. 19, as the Cougars will head to the Lone Star State to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Tip-off against the Islanders is set for 5 p.m. PT and will stream live on ESPN+.
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