PULLMAN, Wash. (February 25, 2024) – Washington State women's basketball led wire-to-wire as they rolled past the Ducks 71-61 Sunday afternoon.

The Cougars (17-12, 6-10 Pac-12) shot at a 46.9 percent clip from the floor, and turned nine turnovers into 16 points.

Astera Tuhina led the scoring attack with a career-high 24 points to go with five assists and three rebounds.

Eleonora Villa matched a career-high with 20 points, and added three assists and four rebounds.

Beyonce Bea also scored in double-figures with 10 points, seven boards and two assists.

Bella Murekatete recorded nine rebounds, six points, two steals and an assist.

Tara Wallack finished with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and a block.

Four early points from Bea put WSU ahead 6-2 to open the game before buckets from E. Villa and Tuhina down the stretch kept the Cougars out in front, 10-8 going into the second quarter.

Teams went back-and-forth in the second with Oregon tying the game twice before the Cougs rattled off an 11-0 run behind seven points from Tuhina and a pair of E. Villa buckets to extend out to a 25-14 lead. Oregon turned around with six unanswered from there, though, and WSU went into halftime leading 25-20.

Another four straight from the Ducks out of the locker room pulled them to within one, 25-24. But threes from Wallack and Tuhina added some separation before a 9-0 run put the Cougs back ahead by 10, 41-31 with 3:52 left in the third.

Another Tuhina jumper and a trey from E. Villa capped the third quarter for WSU and sent the team into the fourth with a 51-35 lead.

Oregon didn't quit, getting back to within eight, 53-45, but WSU continued to have an answer. Another three from Tuhina made it 56-45, before an E. Villa triple with 3:51 remaining put the Cougar lead at 63-51.

A pair of Wallack layups in the final minutes all but sealed the game as WSU went on to win 71-61.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Bella Murekatete

• Grabbed nine rebounds to extend her program lead to 946 career rebounds
• Six points today puts her at 1,489 career points, eighth most in program history
• Played in game number 146, and started her 138th game, extending her program lead in both categories

Beyonce Bea

• Scored 10 points to extend her career points total to 2,091
• Grabbed seven rebounds to extend career rebounds total to 1,039
• Appeared in her 140th career game

NOTES

• E. Villa has scored in double-figures 24 times this season, tied for third most double-digit scoring games by a WSU freshman.
• E. Villa's 13 straight double-digit games puts her second all-time in consecutive double-digit scoring games for a freshman in WSU history.

UP NEXT
The Cougars will hit the road for their final weekend of the regular season to play at Utah on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 2 p.m., and Colorado on Saturday, March 2 at 12 p.m.

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