PULLMAN, Wash. (December 28, 2024) – Washington State women's basketball came out of the gates hot on Saturday as they moved past Pepperdine, 67-46.

The Cougars (7-6, 2-0 WCC) went 11-of-25 from deep for a 44 percent clip, and shot 51.9 percent from the floor while tallying nine blocks.

Charlotte Abraham made four of those 11 threes, going 4-of-5 from beyond the arc for 12 points to go with two rebounds and an assist.

Tara Wallack scored 12 points as well, going 5-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from deep. She also had five boards, three assists and a steal.

Jenna Villa also scored 12 points and had two steals and two rebounds.

Astera Tuhina scored nine points and dished five assists to go with a block and two rebounds.

Candace Kpetikou led the defense with four blocks along with six rebounds, while Dayana Mendes had three blocks, a steal, two rebounds and four points.

Alex Covill scored eight points and Eleonora Villa had six rebounds and four assists.

Early threes from Tuhina and Abraham put the Cougs out to an early 8-0 lead before layups from Covill and Wallack and a pair of Jenna Villa treys extended the lead to 20-5 after a dominant first quarter. Wallack added a couple of triples in the second after a Jenna Villa layup to make it a 28-17 ballgame at the half.

WSU continued to pull ahead out of the break using the 3-ball, as Tuhina and Abraham each hit a pair of threes to put the Cougar advantage at 42-25 midway through the third quarter. Abraham's fourth 3-pointer and a Covill layup sent the game into the final quarter with WSU leading 51-30.

Buckets from Jenna Villa, Covill and Jean Chiu put the score at 59-38 with 6:30 to play, and down the stretch, three-straight buckets from Alice Dart, Mendes and Kyra Gardner closed the 67-46 win.

RECORD BOOK CLIMBERS AND MILESTONE CHASERS
•    Tara Wallack's 12 points put her at 1,031 for her career, ranking 21st in program history.
•    Wallack's sits at 125 career blocks, sixth all-time at WSU.
•    With 29 minutes today, she has played 3,257 career minutes, eight away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
•    Wallack is also 703 minutes away from matching the most in program history.
•    Alex Covill's one block gives her 84 career blocks, nine away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.

NOTES
•    Wallack is now six assists from 200 for her career, which would give her 1,000+ points, 500+ rebounds and 200+ steals.
•    The team's nine blocks was their eighth game this season recording 7+ blocks in a game.

UP NEXT
The Cougars head to Stockton, California to play at Pacific on Monday, Dec. 30 at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

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