SALT LAKE CITY – The Washington State women's basketball team got a double-double performance from senior Bella Murekatete at No. 7 Utah, Sunday, Feb. 12, however, her efforts weren't as the Utes defeated the Cougars, 73-59, in Pac-12 Conference action.

Murekatete paced the Cougars with 18 points while pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. The 6-3 post player earned her sixth double-double of the season in her 100th career start at Washington State. Murekatete was efficient from the floor against the Utes, as she shot an even 50 percent from the floor, connecting on six of her 12 shots. The double-double against Utah gives Murekatete 11 career double-doubles, which ties her with Jonni Gray (1986-89) for the ninth most in program history.

With the loss, Washington State falls to 16-9 overall on the year and is now 6-8 in Pac-12 play. Of the Cougars' nine losses, six have come against teams either ranked inside the top 25 or are receiving votes in one of the two major polls.

Murekatete was one of three Cougars to score double-digit points against the No. 7-ranked team in the country. Junior Charlisse Leger-Walker extended her double-digit scoring streak to three games with a 17-point performance at the Huntsman Center. Freshman Astera Tuhina tallied 10 points off the bench to round out the trio of double-digit scorers for the Cougs.

Washington State shot 35.6 percent from the field, while Utah connected on 42.9 percent of its shots. WSU held the No. 7-ranked team in the nation 12 points under its scoring average but couldn't overcome 10 made 3-point field goals from the Utes.

The Cougars got out to a 4-0 lead after WSU got the afternoon started with back-to-back buckets from Leger-Walker and Murekatete. Utah responded with a 15-4 run to take a seven-point lead with 4:15 left to play in the first. Washington State was able to cut its deficit to one at the end of the first quarter, as Murekatete got a putback layup to fall right before the buzzer to make it a 20-19 game.

WSU pulled even with the Utes midway through the second quarter, as back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Tara Wallack and fifth-year senior Ula Motuga made 29-all with 4:40 left to play before halftime. Utah answered with an 8-0 run, but a Leger-Walker 3-point field goal cut the Cougars' deficit to five points at 37-32. The Utes closed out the second quarter with back-to-back layups to give them a 41-32 advantage at the break.

The Cougs couldn't bite into Utah's advantage in the third quarter, as the Utes built a double-digit lead in the stanza. Utah led by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter before settling for the 14-point victory over the Cougars.

Head Coach Kamie Ethridge on the Decision
"I thought we played unbelievably hard. We competed great but had some bad quarters where we didn't score enough points. We did a lot of good things; we held this team below its scoring average. Bella was good when she was in, and I was happy with how she played and how she competed. We made mistakes early and gave up some 3s we weren't supposed to. We made mistakes and Utah is a team that will make you pay for mistakes. The hard part is we let one get away at Colorado. We needed a split on this trip, and Utah is a very hard place to win. We really have to do some work to catch up and we need a great crowd at home for the seniors next weekend."

Up Next
Washington State returns to Beasley Coliseum next weekend for the final time in the 2022-23 season. The Cougars kick off their final weekend at home next Friday, Feb. 17, when Oregon comes to Pullman. Tip-off against the Ducks is set for 7 p.m. PT and will air live on Pac-12 Network Oregon.

Coug Notes
- Washington State falls to 9-23 all-time against Utah, as the Cougars are now 5-11 all-time against the Utes in Salt Lake City.
- Senior Bella Murekatete recorded her 100th career start today. She is the 10th player in program history to start in 100 or more games in their Cougar career.
- Murekatete's 100 career starts puts her at 10th on WSU's all-time career starts list.
- Murekatete recorded her sixth double-double of the season with an 18-point, 14-rebound performance.
- The six double-doubles for Murekaete this season are the most double-doubles collected by a Cougar in a season since 2011-12 when Jazmine Perkins collected six of her own.
- Murekatete's double-double against the Utes now gives her 11 career double-doubles, putting her in a tie with Jonni Gray (1986-89) for ninth on WSU's all-time double-doubles list.
- Murekaetete's 18-point performance at Utah puts her 13 points away from scoring 1,000 career points.
- Fifth-year senior Ula Motuga broke a four-way tie for seventh on WSU's all-time games played list this afternoon, as the Logan, Australia native now stands all alone at No. 7 on the list with 125 games played.
- Motuga tied her career high in blocks with four swats against the Utes.
- Junior Charlisse Leger-Walker's 17-point performance puts her four points away from cracking into WSU's top 10 all-time in scoring. Leger-Walker now has 1,329 career points.
- Leger-Walker has now scored double figures in 65 of her 75 career games at Washington State.
- Freshman Astera Tuhina scored double-digit points for the seventh time this season.

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