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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