STANFORD, Calif. (January 5, 2024) – Washington State women's basketball battled with No. 8 Stanford Friday night in a 74-65 loss at Maples Pavilion.

The Cougars (11-4, 0-2 Pac-12) had two players combine for the team's nine threes, as Charlisse Leger-Walker went 5-of-10 and Jenna Villa hit 4-of-7 from deep.

Leger-Walker totaled a team-high 22 points, nine rebounds and four assists, along with a steal.

Bella Murekatete finished with 13 points, four assists and a rebound, while J. Villa had 12 points.

Jessica Clarke was an efficient 4-of-6 from the field for eight points to go with a pair of boards.

Beyonce Bea tied for the team lead with nine rebounds.

Tara Wallack tallied two steals and Eleonora Villa had a block, a rebound and an assist around her four points.

Early buckets all around from the Cougars pushed them to a 12-9 lead in the first. Stanford moved ahead from there before back-to-back buckets from Clarke cut into their lead, making it 25-21 midway through the second.

Stanford extended their second-quarter lead to 30-21, but the Cougs wouldn't let them pull away as five points from Murekatete made it 32-26 with 3:08 to go in the half.

Then, makes from Clarke and Bea drew WSU back to within a single possession, 34-32, before a Leger-Walker triple in the final seconds of the first half sent the Cougars into halftime with a 35-34 lead.

Teams went back-and-forth out of the locker room, and a trio of Leger-Walker threes helped WSU stay ahead, 44-42 with 5:48 left in the third.

But Stanford rattled off 12 straight points from there to go up 10, 54-44, before taking a 59-50 lead into the fourth.

In the fourth quarter Stanford led by as many as 15, 69-54, until a pair of J. Villa threes and another trey by Leger-Walker led to an 11-0 Cougar run, making it 69-65 with 1:25 remaining. WSU ran out of time, though, as Stanford connected on their free throws down the stretch to seal their 74-65 win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Charlisse Leger-Walker

• Scored 22 points to push her career point total to 1,667, fourth all-time in WSU career scoring
• Eight made field goals pushed her career total to 580, fifth-most in WSU history
• Five made three pushed her career total to 193, second-most in WSU history, 35 from breaking the school record
• Played 36 minutes to push her career total to 3,599, fourth-most in WSU history, 362 minutes from breaking the school record

Bella Murekatete

• Grabbed one rebound to push career rebound total to 844, fourth-most in WSU history and 56 away from breaking the school record
• Made career start number 124, tying for the most in WSU history with Borislava Hristova (2015-20)
• Was also game number 132, second-most in WSU history and four games away from breaking the school record

NOTES

• Charlisse Leger-Walker went 5-10 from deep, her first threes since Nov. 29 against Texas A&M Commerce
• The last Cougar to make 5+ threes in a game was also Leger-Walker with five against UCLA on March 5, 2022
• With a start tomorrow, Bella Murekatete would break the school record for most career games started.

UP NEXT
The Cougars continue their California trip on Sunday, Jan. 7 at Cal. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. noon on Pac-12 Washington.

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