PULLMAN, Wash. (November 4, 2024) – Washington State women's basketball took Eastern Washington to overtime for an 83-82 win Monday night in Beasley Coliseum.
After a slow first half, the Cougars (1-0, 0-0 WCC) stormed back with a 13-0 run in the third quarter while shooting over 53 percent in the period to help secure the late win.
Tara Wallack led the offense with 21 points to go with a career-high five blocks, and six rebounds, three steals and five assists.
Astera Tuhina grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to go with her 13 points, four assists, a block and a steal.
Eleonora Villa totaled 19 points, four steals and a block, and
Charlotte Abraham hit a trio of threes for 12 points with six rebounds and two steals.
Alice Dart added five points and five rebounds while
Marta Alsina tallied four points and two offensive boards.
Eastern Washington jumped out to an early 9-2 lead and maintained it throughout the first quarter. After struggles shooting the ball, WSU got it going offensively in the final five minutes of the quarter and went on a 10-2 run to cut the Eagles lead to just one.
All throughout the first half the Eagles had success controlling the paint as Eastern grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and converted it into 13 second-chance points. Near the end of the first half, Eastern Washington's Ellie Boni nailed a mid-range jumper to give EWU their biggest lead of the game and to head into halftime with a 38-26 advantage.
Coming out of the half trailing, the Cougs settled down on both sides and after outscoring the Eagles 21-14 in the third quarter, Wazzu only trailed by one heading into the final period.
As both teams exchanged blows in the fourth quarter, Washington State's E. Villa and Wallack caught fire. The two combined for 12 of the Cougars' 13 points heading into the final minutes of the game tied 64-64. Later trailing 73-72 with just eight seconds left, Wallack found Abraham for a three-pointer to give the Cougs a lead with four seconds left, but Eastern found Peyton Howard on the inbound to tie the game up and send it to overtime.
In overtime, neither team could pull away but while trailing 82-80, WSU's Tuhina nailed a trey to give the Cougs the 83-82 lead with four seconds remaining. The Eagles had the final possession of the game, but strong defensive pressure from Alsina kept EWU from getting a shot up, putting the game away.
RECORD BOOK CLIMBERS AND MILESTONE CHASERS
• Tonight's game was
Tara Wallack's 100th of her career.
•
Astera Tuhina reached the 500-career point milestone with her 13 points tonight.
• Tuhina's four assists puts her at 180 for her career, 20 assists away from 200.
• Wallack's five blocks gives her 106 career blocks, seventh all-time at WSU.
• Wallack's 21 points puts her at 871 for her career, 129 points away from 1,000.
• Wallack's six rebounds gives her 440 for her career, 60 away from 500
•
Eleonora Villa scored 19 points, and at 482 career points, is 18 points away from the 500.
• With the win, Head Coach
Kamie Ethridge has 96 wins at WSU, four away from 100.
• Coach Ethridge now also has 179 career wins as a head coach, 21 from 200.
UP NEXT
The Cougars hit the road and head south to Play at Stanford on Thursday, November 7 at 7 p.m. before returning to Pullman to host Idaho on Sunday, November 10 at 12 p.m.
FOLLOW US
For more information on the Washington State women's basketball team, follow @WSUCougarWBB on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
