EUGENE, Ore. – The Washington State women's basketball team ran into a hot-shooting University of Oregon squad on Friday night, as the Cougars dropped an 88-57 decision to the No. 3-ranked team in the country at Matthew Knight Arena on a night where redshirt senior Borislava Hristova moved into 12th on the Pac-12 Conference women's basketball all-time scoring list.
Hristova posted 14 points against the Ducks on Friday night to push her career point total to 2,238 career points, moving her past former Arizona All-American, and current Wildcat head coach, Adia Barnes for 12th on the Pac-12 women's basketball all-time scoring list. Bobi Buckets is closing in on the top-10 of the conference's all-time scoring list, as she needs 39 more points to move into 10th on the list with two guaranteed games left in her WSU career.
The senior from Bulgaria was one of two double-digit scorers for Washington State against the Ducks, as redshirt junior Jovana Subasic tallied a team-high 17 points. The Serbia native connected on seven of her 11 shot attempts from the field, as she has now posted double-digits in four of her six career collegiate starts.
The loss extends Washington State's losing streak to six games, as they fall to 11-18 overall on the year and 4-13 in Pac-12 play. Meanwhile for No. 3-ranked Oregon, they improve to 27-2 and claim the 2019-20 Pac-12 Conference regular season title after tonight's win pushed the Duck's conference record 16-1.
The No. 3-ranked team in the country came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, as they opened the night on a 13-0 run. Oregon shot 76.5% over the first 10 minutes and maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.
Oregon led by a game-high 35 points heading into the fourth quarter, but the Cougs refused to back down. WSU showed grit by opening the final stanza on a 9-0 run to force Oregon to call a timeout. Senior Chanelle Molina scored the first seven points during the run to help her end the night with nine total points.
Washington State was able to build momentum off the hot start to the fourth quarter, as the Cougars outscored the Ducks, 15-11, in the night's final frame. WSU hit 58.3% in the fourth, while they limited Oregon to a 30.8% shooting performance over the final 10 minutes of play.
No. 3 Oregon shot 55.2% from the floor against Washington State on Friday night, but it was the Cougs who outshot the Ducks in the second half, as WSU shot 46.7% (14-of-30), while Oregon posted a combined 37.0% shooting percentage during the night's final two quarters.
Washington State closes out the 2019-20 regular season this Sunday, March 1, as the Cougars bus over to Corvallis to take on No. 17/18 Oregon State. Tip-off against the Beavers is set for 12 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network Oregon.
COUG QUOTES
Head coach Kamie Ethridge on Tonight's Result: "We're playing a great team and they just outplayed us, especially in the first half. I didn't mind our offense, I thought we got good looks but missed some key shots. I thought we should've had nine or 10 more points based on the looks we got. Offensively, we just weren't very good in the first half and let them get a big lead. They are good enough and when you gift them turnovers that lead to layups and give them easy shots around the rim they are going to make those a lot. I was disappointed in how we defended them, but I thought we did a much better job in the second half and showed a lot more heart. I liked a lot of the things Grace Sarver did, as well as a lot of other players. We just couldn't stop them in the first half."
COUG NOTES
- Washington States moves to 0-13 against top-25 teams this season.
- With the loss, Washington State falls to 19-68 all-time in the series against Oregon.
- Senior Chanelle Molina went over 1,000 minutes played on the season with 1,035. It is the second-straight season that the point guard has logged more than 1,000 minutes played, as she totaled 1,131 minutes last season.
- Tonight's 17-point performance for Jovana Subasic marked the 14th game this season that the post player posted double-digits in the scoring ledger.
