Cougs Win Again Despite Injuries

Women’s basketball

The Washington State women’s basketball team is doing something this season that it hasn’t done in a long time.

Injuries to the Cougars have been as routine as defeats in past years. The start of this season has been no different. Well, the injury part anyway. The wins, however, are starting to pile up. WSU defeated Oregon 72-59 Thursday night at Friel Court for its 10th win of the season.

With Kelli Kronberger and Felesia Fode out of the lineup because of injuries, WSU got strong bench-play from Jennifer Kerns and Laura Wilder to back up another solid scoring effort from the Cougars’ big three of Jenni Ruff (27 points), Yvonne Kunze (17) and Kristin Erickson (10).

Kerns, a freshman out of Lake City High in Coeur d’Alene, provided a second-half spark for the Cougars and shot 8 for 8 from the free-throw line for eight points down the stretch in addition to grabbing six rebounds.

Wilder gave the Cougars a first-half boost with six points and four rebounds.

“This was truly a team effort,” WSU coach Harold Rhodes said. “Laura gave us that spirit we didn’t have much of in the first half with transition points off the break.

“Jen, she had her best game of the season from the free-throw line and picked up two really big offensive rebounds for us late in the game.”

The Cougars (2-1 Pac-10, 10-3 overall) led for most of the contest. After taking a 25-22 halftime lead, Oregon took its first lead of the game at 35-34 with 15:35 remaining.

Oregon held a 44-40 lead with 11:19 remaining before Ruff went on a solo 14-6 scoring run for the next seven minutes to give the Cougars a 54-50 lead they never relinquished.

Ruff shot 10 for 20 on the night from the floor after shooting just 2 for 9 in the first half.

“I just had to get myself motivated to play,” Ruff said.

After having been away from Friel Court for more than a month and playing on the road, a lack of motivation and energy is more than understandable.

“I don’t play, and I’m having a hard time getting out of bed,” Rhodes said. “I feel like I ought to have a bag packed and be running to the airport right now.”

Oregon (0-2, 8-4) was coming off a hard-fought 58-57 road loss to No. 11 Oregon State Saturday night.

Washington State will stay home for a while and catch up on its rest before Oregon State pays a visit to Friel Court for a Saturday afternoon contest at 1 p.m.

Washington St. 72, Oregon 59

Oregon (8-4 - Boeving 2-5 0-0 4, Boyer 8-16-5-7-21, Fegent 8-11 0-1 16, Bowyer 1-6 5-6 8, Edamura 3-16 0-0 6, McKnight 0-3 0-0 0, Robbins 1-2 0-0 2, Benson 0-0 0-0 0, Curtis 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 23-60 12-16 59.

Washington St. (10-3) - Ruff 10-20 6-8 27, Erickson 4-12 1-1 10, Kunze 8-16 1-4 17, Hyett 1-4 0-0 2, Wight 1-10 0-0 2, Kerns 0-2 8-8 8, Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Wilder 3-4 0-1 6. Totals 27-68 16-22 72.

Halftime-Washington St. 25, Oregon 22. 3-Point goals- Oregon 1-11 (Bowyer 1-4, Boeving 0 -1, Edamura 0-3, McKinght 0-2, Curtis 0-1), Washington St. 2-15 (Ruff 1-3, Erickson 1-2, Hyett 0-1, Wight 0-7, Kerns 0-2). Fouled out-Oregon, Fegent. Washington St., Erickson. Rebounds-Oregon 42 (Boyer 10). Washington St. 45 (Kunze 11). Assists-Oregon 8 (Robbins 3). Washington St. 16 (Hyett 7).Total fouls-Oregon 22, Washington St. 18. A-724.

Oregon St. 69, Washington 66

At Seattle, Tanja Kostic scored 28 points to lead the Beavers to their ninth victory in a row. The Beavers opened the second half with a 15-4 run, erasing Washington’s five-point halftime lead. Kostic scored five points in that stretch.

Santa Clara 79, Gonzaga 69

Suzanne Ressa scored a game-high 34 points to lead Santa Clara (6-6, 1-0) to a win over the Bulldogs (2-11, 0-1) in a WCC opener at Martin Centre.

Lydia Ledgerwood paced Gonzaga with 19 points, while Staci Andrews added 15 points and seven rebounds.

Santa Clara (6-6) - Hollowell 1-4 0-0 3, Ressa 10-16 8-8 34, Sacco 1-6 2-2 4, Silacci 7-11 3-6 17, Gonzales 0-1 2-2 2, Swank 4-8 4-7 12, Riedman 0-1 2-2 2, Brantley 3-6 0-0 6, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Hurley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals - 26-53 21-27 79.

Gonzaga (2-11) - Ledgerwood 7-12 5-6 19, Herman 4-8 1-1 9, McCliment 1-7 2-2 4, Phillips 2-8 0-0 4, Pauley 3-11 2-2 9, McCullough 0-0 0-0 0, Sherfey 2-2 2-2 7, Andrews 7-13 0-0 15, Steward 0-1 0-0 0, Gere 1-2 0-0 2. Totals - 27-64 12-13 69.

Halftime score - SC 38, G 37. 3-point goals - SC 6-13 (Ressa 6-8, Silacci 0-1, Riedman 0-1, Brantley 0-3), G 3-5 (Pauley 1-2, Sherfey 1-1, Andrews 1-2). Total fouls - SC 19, G 24. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.

, DataTimes