LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 6, 2024) – Washington State women's basketball dropped its opening round matchup of the Pac-12 Tournament to 8-seeded California, 65-44, Wednesday afternoon.
The Cougars (18-14) defended well, holding Cal to 39 percent from the field, but the Golden Bears were scrappy on the boards for 26 second chance points.
Eleonora Villa continued her hot shooting with a team-high 17 points to go with two assists, a rebound and a steal.
Bella Murekatete finished with eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and a block.
Beyonce Bea led on the boards with nine, and also had three points and a steal.
Tara Wallack tallied seven points, two rebounds and two blocks.
Astera Tuhina scored five and dished out three assists, while
Jessica Clarke had four points, three rebounds and a block.
Murekatete opened the scoring with a layup, and a Tuhina three shortly after put the Cougs ahead 5-4. Teams went back-and-fourth from there, and a pair of layups from E. Villa made it a 9-9 game with 3:26 to go in the first. Cal used a 7-1 spurt down the stretch to hold a 16-10 lead entering the second quarter.
Both teams were slow to start the second, but after buckets from E. Villa and Wallack, Cal put up eight unanswered to lead 30-14 going into halftime.
Cal used the 3-ball to extend to a 41-20 lead midway through the third, but five straight from the Cougs on an E. Villa trey and Wallack bucket made it 41-25 at the media break.
The game entered the fourth with Cal leading 50-30, but WSU wasn't done as layups from Murekatete and E. Villa made it 50-34.
Minutes later a Wallack three and another bucket from Murekatete drew the Cougs back to within 15, 52-37. The Cougs ran out of time from there, though, as they went on to fall 65-44.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Bella Murekatete
- Grabbed seven rebounds to extend her program lead to 959 career rebounds
- Totaled one block to extend her program lead to 185 career blocked shots
- Eight points today puts her at 1,523 career points, seventh most in program history
- Played in game number 149, and started her 141st game, extending her program lead in both categories
Beyonce Bea
- Scored three points to extend her career points total to 2,108 points
- Grabbed nine rebounds to extend career rebounds total to 1,059
- Appeared in her 143rd career game
UP NEXT
The Cougars will now look to Selection Sunday on March 17 to learn their fate in the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.
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