CORVALLIS, Ore. (January 27, 2025) – Washington State women's basketball held a 20-point lead at halftime and staved off a late push by the Beavers to win 65-57 in Gill Coliseum Monday night.

The Cougars (13-10, 8-4 WCC) knocked down 10 threes in the first half, going 10-of-13, and ended the night shooting 58.8 percent from deep and 41.4 percent from the floor. Defensively, the team racked up 12 blocks and five steals.

Tara Wallack led the offense with 12 points, going a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc for a career-high in made threes, and added six rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

Alex Covill put up a career-high six blocks, becoming the fastest Cougar ever to 100 blocks along the way, while adding eight points and four boards.

Eleonora Villa totaled 11 points and four assists, and Astera Tuhina tallied 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Candace Kpetikou finished with a team-high eight rebounds to go with four points and a block, while Dayana Mendes had seven points, three boards and two blocks.

Teams traded points in the early goings before threes from Mendes and Abraham gave WSU the slight edge, 15-12 at the end of the first quarter.

The Cougs poured it on in the second quarter, outscoring the Beavers 27-9 in the frame. Triples from Tuhina and Abraham stretched the lead to 23-14 before a 12-2 spurt with four threes, two from Wallack and one each from Jenna Villa and Tuhina, made it 37-18. One more trey from Wallack before the end of the first half, and WSU led 42-21 at halftime.

Out of the locker room, Wazzu went on to lead by as many as 25 in the third after jumpers from Eleonora Villa and Kpetikou put the lead at 48-23 with 6:45 left in the third. OSU began to chip away from there, though, as WSU held a 54-34 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

OSU continued to claw its way back into the game with a 13-2 run that made it a nine-point game, 56-47 with 3:41 to play. The Beavers kept working, and eventually got to within three, 59-56 with a minute to play. However, in the final seconds, a pair of Tuhina free throws and a quick layup from Kyra Gardner held them off, and sealed the Cougar win, 65-57.


RECORD BOOK CLIMBERS AND MILESTONE CHASERS

• Tara Wallack's 12 points put her at 1,134 for her career, ranking 18th in program history.
• Wallack's three blocks puts her at 144 for her career, fifth all-time at WSU.
• Wallack had six rebounds, putting her at 594 career boards, 37 from 10th all time at WSU.
• With 34 minutes tonight, Wallack has played 3,584 career minutes, fifth all-time at WSU.
• Wallack is also 376 minutes away from matching the most in program history.
• Alex Covill's six blocks put her at 105 career blocks, surpassing 100 for her career and moving her into eighth all-time at WSU.
• Astera Tuhina made two 3-pointers, surpassing 100 for her career.
• Coach Ethridge now has 191 career wins as a head coach, nine from 200.

NOTES

• WSU scored 27 points in the second quarter, the most points in a single-quarter this season, and the most since scoring 30 in the fourth quarter against Santa Clara on March 24, 2024 in the WBIT.
• With Alex Covill surpassing 100 career blocks tonight, she is the fastest Cougar to reach the milestone, doing so in 59 games, besting Nike McClure who reached 100 blocks in her 67th game during the 2017-18 season.
• With 12 blocks, WSU finished in double-digits for the third time this season, and was the second-most in a game this season, totaling 14 at San Diego (12/19).
• The 12 blocks is also WSU's 12th game this season with 7+ blocks.

UP NEXT
The Cougs return home for a pair of games in Beasley Coliseum next weekend, hosting Pacific on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m., and San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 1 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.