EUGENE, Ore. (December 4, 2024) – Washington State women's basketball battled at Oregon Wednesday night, falling 85-70.
The Cougars (4-5, 0-0 WCC) shot well as a team at 50.8 percent from the field, but the Ducks got hot in the third quarter, scoring 31 points and shooting at a 63.2 percent clip from the floor in the period to pull away.
Eleonora Villa led the team with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while
Tara Wallack also grabbed seven rebounds to go with 15 points, and three blocks.
Astera Tuhina went a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc to finish with 14 points along with three boards.
Alex Covill tallied three blocks on the night with six points and two offensive rebounds.
Jenna Villa finished with three rebounds, three assists, three points, and a block.
Dayana Mendes and
Candace Kpetikou each ended the night with four points. Kpetikou added two boards, two steals and an assist, and Mendes had a rebound and a steal.
A pair of Covill layups opened the scoring for the Cougs before buckets from Wallack and
Eleonora Villa put them ahead 9-6. Oregon would take a lead, but six points from Villa and a mid-range bucket from Kpetikou in the final minutes of the first quarter put the game at 22-17 in favor of Oregon entering the second quarter.
The Ducks stretched their lead to 30-19 midway through the second, but the Cougs worked their way back with a 10-0 run using a hook shot from Wallack, back-to-back threes from Tuhina and a jumper from Mendes to make it 30-29. Before halftime, one more triple from Tuhina and a bucket from
Eleonora Villa locked the game at 34-all entering the intermission.
Out of the break,
Jenna Villa drained a three to give WSU its first lead since the first quarter, 37-36, and then a 3-point play from Wallack extended the advantage to 40-38. Teams traded points from there as a jumper from
Eleonora Villa tied the game at 42-all and a Covill layup made it 44-all.
Oregon went on a 9-0 run from there, though, and went ahead 53-44 with 4:50 to play in the third. But WSU hung around with another Tuhina three and makes from
Eleonora Villa and Kpetikou to cut the Duck lead to 59-53 in the final minutes of the third. A Wallack layup put the score at 62-55, but Oregon hit a three in the final seconds to put them ahead 65-55 going into the game's final quarter.
Layups from
Eleonora Villa and Wallack kept the Cougs within striking distance, 76-63 midway through the fourth, but UO added to their lead from there as they would go on to win 85-70.
RECORD BOOK CLIMBERS AND MILESTONE CHASERS
•
Tara Wallack's 15 points put her at 982 for her career, 18 points away from 1,000.
• Wallack's seven rebounds gives her 494 for her career, six away from 500.
• Wallack's three block moves her to 124 career blocks, sixth all-time at WSU.
UP NEXT
The Cougars are back in Pullman next weekend to host BYU on Friday, Dec. 13 at 6 p.m., and Saint Martin's on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 12 p.m. noon. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
FOLLOW US
For more information on the Washington State women's basketball team, follow @WSUCougarWBB on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
