Cougs Pull Together Behind Kunze Reserve Forward Leads WSU Past Ewu

Washington State’s women’s basketball team got coach Harold Rhodes’ message loud and clear.

The Cougars rebounded from a lackluster win at Idaho earlier in the week and defeated Eastern Washington 86-66 Friday night at EWU’s Reese Court.

Rhodes was frustrated with his team’s execution in a 72-71 win at Moscow on Tuesday. In that game, the Cougars abandoned their size advantage on the inside and wound up playing too much one-on-one basketball. That wasn’t the case against Eastern.

The Cougars outmuscled the Eagles, and 6-foot-4 power forward Yvonne Kunze came off the bench to erupt for a career-high 26 points as she shot 11 for 17 from the floor to lead all scorers.

“I never get that open,” said Kunze, a sophomore from Berlin.

“Yvonne can score on just about anyone if she gets that position inside,” Rhodes said. “We set picks for her on one side of the lane and then she’d flash to the opposite side and the shots were right there.”

Because of her size, Kunze was able to keep Eastern’s defense on her back allowing her numerous layin baskets.

“In America, defenses front the post and its a lot harder to get the ball,” Kunze said. “It seemed like I was back home because the post isn’t fronted. I got great screens and a lot of easy shots.”

True enough. In looking at a shot chart, not one of Kunze’s baskets was farther than 7 feet from the basket.

“They have a very big child on the inside and we just couldn’t match up with her,” Eastern coach Heidi VanDerveer said.

That certainly wasn’t the case early on.

Eastern ran out to a 22-11 lead with power forward Kristy Missall leading the way on the inside. At the time, Missall was being guarded by WSU’s Kristin Erickson. But then Rhodes had Kunze guard Missall before the Cougars eventually switched to a zone defense that forced the Eagles to shoot more from the outside. Eastern shot 52 percent for the game, but WSU connected on 53 percent of its shots.

“This was a much better effort for us tonight because we responded to the challenge of playing a team that was hitting everything it put up in front of its home crowd,” Rhodes said.

After Eastern’s 22-11 lead, the Cougars went on a 29-10 run to take a 40-32 halftime lead. Kunze, who had 16 points at the half, nearly doubled her career-high of nine points in that half.

Along with Kunze’s 26 points, Erickson finished with 22 points as she shot 9 for 19 from the field and 3 for 7 from 3-point range.

“This was Yvonne’s game,” Erickson said. “She set the tone and we just followed her lead.”

The Cougars also got 17 points from Jenni Ruff and 11 from Juli Wight, who got hot in the second half which thwarted any EWU attempt to comeback.

For Eastern, Missall, Tina Smith and Shadle Park grad Kelly Bartleson all had 14 points.

Bartleson, a freshman, has worked her way into the starting lineup.

Eastern (1-5) returns to action Tuesday and Wednesday in the Stanford Fry’s Cardinal Classic at Palo Alto, Calif.

The Eagles will take on Auburn on Tuesday.

Washington State (6-2) won’t play again until Dec. 29 when it takes on Northeastern Illinois in the Houston Lady Cougar Classic at Houston.

WSU 86, EWU 66

WASHINGTON STATE (86)

Wight 4-6 1-2 11, Ruff 6-13 5-7 17, Erickson 9-19 1-1 22, Hyett 0-1 0-0 0, Kronberger 2-4 0-0 6, Kerns 1-1 0-0 2 Wilder 1-3 0-0 2, Kunze 11-17 4-5 26. Totals 34-64 11-15 86.

EASTERN WASHINGTON (66)

Watterson 3-4 2-2 8, Missall 7-11 0-0 14, Bartleson 4-9 6-7 14, Sutter 2-3 0-0 4, Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 6-15 0-0 14, Ray 2-3 2-2 6, King 1-2 0-1 2, Ferguson 1-1 2-2 4, Hollingberry 0-1 0-0 0, Sloan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-50 12-14 66.

3-Point goals-Washington St. 7-14 (Erickson 3-7), Eastern Washington 2-8 (Smith 2-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds- Washington St. 29 (Ruff, Kunze 6), Eastern Washington 27 (Bartleson 6). Assists-Washington St. (Hyett 10), Eastern Washington 18 (Sutter 8). A-439.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo