Late Push Falls Just Short in 70-62 Loss to No. 11/10 USC

Friday, January 26

Los Angeles, CA

7:00 PM

Washington State University

14-6,3-4Pac-12

USC

14-3,4-3Pac-12

Washington St.

Southern California

January 26, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Kamie Ethridge Postgame

By: Washington State Athletic Communications

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (January 26, 2024) – Washington State women's basketball played tough all 40 minutes Friday night, but ran out of time as the team fell 70-62 to No. 11/10 Southern California.

The Cougars (14-6, 3-4 Pac-12) shot 45.5 percent from the floor, but were out-rebounded on the offensive end 16-2 by USC.

Tara Wallack tied a career-high with 21 points, going 8-of-15 and tallying four rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.

Eleonora Villa finished with 12 points, including a pair of threes to go along with a block and a steal.

Bella Murekatete faced foul trouble, but still recorded seven points and seven boards, three assists, a block and a steal.

Charlisse Leger-Walker had six points, seven assists, five rebounds and a block.

Jenna Villa scored eight points to go with four rebounds and a steal, while Alex Covill had six points, five rebounds, three blocks and an assist.

USC took a quick 10-0 lead before Murekatete powered through a double-team to get to the rim for a layup and open the scoring for WSU. The game saw a 10-4 USC lead at the first media break, and back-and-forth play from there sent things into the second quarter with USC up 21-12.

To start the second quarter, J. Villa splashed a trey to make it 21-15. A Wallack three and a Murekatete layup kept the USC lead within 10, 31-22, entering the final four minutes of play. However, a USC spurt down the stretch put the Cougars down 43-25 at halftime.

Out of the locker room, Wallack drained her second triple of the game as WSU started to chip away and make it 43-28. Layups from Murekatete, Covill and Leger-Walker helped keep WSU in striking distance, 51-36, midway through the third, before buckets from E. Villa and Covill cut the Trojan lead to 12, 54-42 entering the fourth quarter.

Into the final 10 minutes, five points from Wallack were followed up with an E. Villa jumper to put the game at 60-49 in favor of USC with 7:39 remaining. The Cougs kept pushing to get back to within 10, and buckets from Wallack, J. Villa, Leger-Walker and Bea down the stretch did just that, making it 69-59 with under two minutes to go.

E. Villa nailed a three as the game entered its final minute, getting the Cougars back to within single digits, 70-62, but WSU ultimately ran out of time in the end as the game went on to go final by that score.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Charlisse Leger-Walker

Scored six points to push her career point total to 1,726, third all-time in WSU career scoring
Two made field goals pushed her career total to 600, fifth-most in WSU history
Seven assists put her career total at 387, fourth-most in WSU history
Played 38 minutes to push her career total to 3,774, third-most in WSU history, 187 minutes from breaking the school record

Bella Murekatete

Grabbed seven rebounds to push career rebound total to 882, moving up to second-most in WSU history and 18 away from breaking the school record
Seven points tonight puts her at 1,398 career points, 10th most in program history
One block extended her program lead in career blocks to 170
Played in game number 137, and started her 129th game, extending her program lead in both categories

Beyonce Bea

Scored two points to push career point total to 2,046
Grabbed two rebounds to extend career rebounds total to 979
Appeared in her 131st career game

UP NEXT
The Cougars hit the court again on Sunday, Jan. 28 at UCLA for a matchup with the #2/4 Bruins at 1 p.m.

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