Women’s basketball: WSU opens Pac-12 play with victory

Tia Presley and Lia Galdeira combined for 51 points and Washington State opened Pac-12 Conference play on Saturday with its sixth straight win, 81-70 over Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

Presley had 26 points and Galdeira 25, 14 more than their combined average.

The Cougars (10-2, 1-0), who never trailed after a Galdeira 3-pointer 4 seconds into the game, led 37-30 at halftime.

They were on the verge of a blowout with an 11-0 run when Arizona had five turnovers, putting them up by 20 with 6:54 to play. The Wildcats (7-5, 0-1) followed with a 12-0 run to close within 68-60 as the Cougars missed seven straight shots.

Galdeira had seven rebounds and seven assists as WSU had its best start since going 10-2 in 1989-90. Shalie Dheensaw had 11 rebounds for the Cougars.

Charise Holloway hit all four of her 3-pointers and had a career-high 20 for Arizona.

Idaho 67, Weber State 60: Stacey Barr matched her season-high 31 points and the Vandals (7-6, 1-1) clipped the Wildcats (5-8, 0-2) in a Big Sky Conference game in Ogden, Utah.

Barr hit 8 of 14 shots from the floor, including 4 of 7 3-pointers and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line. She also grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out six assists.

Idaho struggled on offense in the first half, but leaned on its defense to take a nine-point lead.

Eastern Washington 88, Idaho State 75: Hayley Hodgins made all four of her 3-pointers, scored 24 points and came away with a career-high six steals as the Eagles (9-4, 2-0) topped the Bengals (6-7, 1-1) in a Big Sky Conference game in Pocatello.

It was EWU’s fifth straight win.

The Eagles’ Lexie Nelson had 22 points, Delaney Hodgins added 12 points and seven rebounds and Jade Redmon chipped in 10 points and seven assists.

Whitworth 52, Lewis & Clark 35: Katara Belton-Sharp scored 16 points and K.C. McConnell added 15 as the Pirates (11-0, 2-0) built a 19-point first-half lead and coasted past the Pioneers (3-8, 0-2) in a Northwest Conference game in Portland.

Both teams struggled – Whitworth shot 31 percent from the field and Lewis & Clark made 35 percent of its shots.

Free-throw shooting was a major factor, as the Pirates made 17 of 18 and the Pioneers were just 4 of 10.

North Idaho 91, Trinity Western 64: Monica Landdeck came off the bench to lead six players in double figures with 20 points and the red-hot Cardinals (12-5) raced past the visiting Spartans (7-11) in a nonconference game.

NIC made 47.8 percent of its shots, including 9 of 21 3-pointers and 16 of 19 free throws.

Mariah Swanson added 19 points and Maci Benedict and Kara Staggs each added 14 for the Cardinals.