PULLMAN, Wash. (March 21, 2024) – Washington State women's basketball led from wire to wire as they rolled past 8-seeded Lamar 66-46 Thursday night to advance to the second round of the WBIT.
The Cougars (19-14) shot the ball well at a 45.1 percent clip, and went 10-of-21 from beyond the arc.
Tara Wallack led the offense with 15 points to go with three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Eleonora Villa also scored in double figures with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal.
Beyonce Bea paced the team in boards with 10 rebounds. She also had two assists, a block and a steal.
Astera Tuhina finished with a team-high six assists along with nine points and three steals
Bella Murekatete scored eight points, grabbed six boards, and added two blocks and two steals.
Kyra Gardner also scored eight points to go with her two steals, two rebounds and an assist.
Alex Covill led the way with three blocks, and also recorded five rebounds and two points.
Jenna Villa finished with six points, and
Jessica Clarke scored four.
The Cougs came out firing, as four points from Wallack and a pair of treys from E. Villa put them ahead 14-2 midway through the first. WSU stayed in control the rest of the first quarter and a three from J. Villa in the final seconds put them ahead 21-8 going into the second.
Lamar started to climb back into the game with a 10-2 start to the second quarter, pulling within five, 23-18. The Cougs halted that spurt, though, with back-to-back threes from Gardner and Tuhina to put the Cougar lead back over 10, 29-18, with 3:42 left in the first half. Five more points from Gardner, including another triple, helped WSU to take a 34-24 lead into halftime.
Lamar drew back to within five once again out of the locker room, making it 36-31 to stay within striking distance, but every time Lamar started to inch back, the Cougars seemed to have an answer. Buckets from E. Villa and Tuhina stretched the WSU lead back out to 44-33 as the clock ticked under five to play, and a three from J. Villa sent the game into the fourth quarter with the Cougs up 47-40.
Wallack drained a pair of threes to start the fourth, quickly adding some breathing room for the Cougs, making it 53-42. WSU continued to add on with layups from Murekatete and E. Villa to lead by 15, 59-44 with 4:35 remaining in the game.
The Cougs went on to stretch the lead to 20 after another Murekatete layup and a Wallack three made it 64-44. One more layup from Clarke in the final seconds all but sealed the victory, 66-46, securing a second round game in the WBIT.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Bella Murekatete
- Grabbed six rebounds to extend her program lead to 965 career rebounds
- Totaled two blocks to extend her program lead to 187 career blocked shots
- Eight points today puts her at 1,531 career points, sixth most in program history
- Played in game number 150, and started her 142nd game, extending her program lead in both categories
Beyonce Bea
- Grabbed 10 rebounds to extend career rebounds total to 1,069
- Appeared in her 144th career game
Eleonora Villa
- With 12 points tonight, she has scored in double-figures 27 times this season, second-most double-digit scoring games by a WSU freshman
- 12 points also extends her season total to 427, fourth-most ever by a WSU freshman
- Made one three-pointer to total 48 this season, tied for the sixth-most threes by a WSU freshman
- 36 minutes played puts her at 1,092 this season, most ever by a WSU freshman
UP NEXT
The Cougars advance to the second round of the WBIT to host the No. 4-seeded Santa Clara on Sunday, March 24. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. and can be watched live on ESPN+.
FOLLOW US
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