Cougars Revert To Form, Absorb 32-Point Loss

Women’s basketball

On this promotional autograph night, fans didn’t need to wait around to receive the Washington State University women’s basketball players’ scribblings on their free posters.

That’s because most had already witnessed what has become WSU’s signature performance.

In a flashback to last season’s style of play, Washington State allowed Brigham Young to go on an 18-0 run early in the second half. That streak propelled BYU to a 90-58 win in front of 504 fans at Friel Court Thursday.

With the win, BYU moved to 3-1. Washington State fell to 2-2.

“It was definitely a step back,” said junior Sarah Barrett.

A step way back to last season. Team after team put up big second-half runs against WSU during its 4-24 season in 1999-200.

“We had the same problems (against BYU) that happened a lot last year,” said point guard Katie Nyseth. “It happened to a lot lesser degree in our other games this year. But in this game, it was 10 times worse.”

The second half actually started out well for WSU. Nyseth nabbed a steal and went the other way for a layup to pull WSU within three points at 39-36.

From that point on, BYU took control. And WSU let it, missing six consecutive shots, committing three turnovers and forgetting to play any defense during the BYU run.

By the time the game reached the 13:40 mark in the second half, it was 57-36 BYU and it was over. The second-half run wasn’t the only one that did in Washington State. In the first half, WSU took a 13-6 lead only to let that slip away on a 11-0 run by BYU.

Once BYU grabbed the lead in the first half, it never relinquished it.

“We struggled with intensity the whole game,” said WSU coach Jenny Przekwas. “Every time we had a letdown, they took advantage. They scored off every single letdown.”

Washington State stayed remarkably close in the first half, considering it was shooting 29 percent at one point and BYU was shooting 64 percent. Brigham Young shot so well because it was able to get any shot it wanted. Washington State’s post defenders were either stuck behind the BYU post players or defending on the high side. This allowed BYU to get the ball deep or catch and spin to the baseline for a bucket.

Brigham Young point guard Stacy Jensen was also able to use the drive-and-dish to exploit the WSU defense. She scored eight of her 11 points during her team’s 18-0 run.

“They were reaching and getting up tight on us and we wanted to keep them honest,” said BYU coach Trent Shippen.

“They did a great job of taking it right to us,” said Przekwas. “They broke us down on the penetration all night.”

The success inside clearly freed up BYU’s outside game. Brigham Young shot 10 of 14 from behind the 3-point arc. For the game, BYU shot 61.5 percent from the floor. Heather Cheesman led BYU with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

“We weren’t in the right spots or playing very smart,” said Barrett. “We were helping on the wrong people.”

“I don’t think there was much presence anywhere,” added Przekwas about the defense.

That style is drastically different than how Washington State played during the first week of the season when the Cougars took two of three on the East Coast.

“We looked like two different teams from last week and tonight,” said Barrett. “It was kind of an eye-opener.”

Washington State will play host to Idaho at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Brigham Young 90, WSU 58

Brigham Young (3-1) - Cheesman 7-11 0-0 16, Thorn 5-9 2-2 14, Osguthorpe 3-3 4-4 11, Jensen 3-4 4-4 11, Cox 3-4 2-3 9, Shippen 3-6 0-0 8, Whetten 3-4 1-1 8, Rose 2-5 2-2 6, Beus 3-6 0-2 6. Totals 32-52 16-20 90.

Washington State (2-2) - Volkman 5-11 1-2 13, Berglund 4-9 3-6 11, Hawks 3-10 1-1 7, Nyseth 2-8 0-0 5, Smith 2-4 0-0 5, Harrod 2-5 1-2 5, Barrett 2-3 0-0 4, Dugan 1-3 0-0 2, Collins 1-2 0-0 2, Fields 1-2 0-0 2, Ottmar 1-2 0-0 2, Martindale 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan 0-1 0-0 0, Bragg 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 6-11 58.

Halftime-Brigham Young 39, washington State 34. 3-point goals-Brigham Young 10-14 (Thorn 2-4, Cheesman 2-2, Shippen 2-3, Jensen 1-2, Cox 1-1, Osguthorpe 1-1, Whetten 1-1), Washington State 4-12 (Volkman 2-3, Smith 1-3, Nyseth 1-4, Harrod 0-1, Martindale 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Brigham Young 34 (Osguthorpe 9), Washington State 30 (Hawks, Berglund 6). Assists-Brigham Young 17 (Osguthorpe 4), Washington State 16 (Nyseth 7). Total fouls-Brigham Young 12, Washington State 18. Technicals-None. A-504.

Idaho 73, Montana 68

In Moscow, Idaho, the Vandals snapped a season-opening four-game losing streak by defeating the Lady Griz.

The victory also halted Idaho’s 23-game losing streak to Montana, which last lost to Idaho on Feb. 8, 1985. With the win, Idaho improves to 1-4, while Montana drops to 3-1.

Idaho’s Julie Wynstra led all scorers with 20 points and snagged five rebounds.

Darci Pemberton of the Vandals led all rebounders with eight and also scored 13 points, despite sitting a good deal of the second half after getting into foul trouble.

Montana (3-1) - Cooper 5-11 2-2 12, Keller 3-6 1-2 8, Cummings 2-8 2-2 6, Lorenzen 1-6 0-1 2, Valley 2-6 0-2 4, Farris 0-1 1-2 1, Montes 2-3 1-1 6, Henkel 0-2 0-0 0, Schildt 4-6 3-5 13, Deming 7-10 2-2 16. Totals 26-59 12-19 68.

Idaho (1-4) - Goss 1-2 0-1 2, Pemberton 5-10 1-2 13, Rico 2-4 7-10 11, Bloom 2-4 0-0 4, Wynstra 6-15 8-11 20, Schooler 0-1 2-2 2, LeBlanc 1-6 0-0 2, Brown 2-4 0-0 4, Krell 2-5 0-0 5, Benad 0-0 0-0 0, Coldren 4-5 0-0 10. Totals 25-56 18-26 73.

Halftime-Idaho 29, Montana 24. 3-point goals-Montana 4-10 (Schildt 2-3, Keller 1-1, Montes 1-2, Lorenzen 0-1, Cooper 0-3), Idaho 5-13 (Coldren 2-2, Pemberton 2-3, Krell 1-3, Rico 0-1, Schooler 0-1, LeBlanc 0-3). Fouled out-Montes. Rebounds- Montana 38 (Cummings 6), Idaho 37 (Pemberton 8). Assists- Montana 18 (Montes 9), Idaho 18 (Rico 5). Total fouls-Montana 21, Idaho 19. A-693.