Icy shooting cools off Cougars

Sat., Nov. 26, 2005

The Spokesman-Review

Washington State’s Charmaine Jones led all scorers with 16 points and Kate Benz pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the Cougars (2-1) fell to the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine 68-63 in Friday’s opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic women’s basketball tournament at Honolulu.

Benz, the defending Pacific-10 Conference rebounding champion, posted her fourth career game with at least 15 rebounds. Adriane Ferguson added 10 points for WSU and Brittany Grice led the Wahine (2-1) with 14.

The Cougars saw a 41-35 halftime advantage disappear while being outscored 33-22 in the second half. This was due in large part to a paltry 6-of-33 shooting performance from the field the final 20 minutes. Hawaii overcame an 8-of-30 shooting from the field in the second half by knocking down 17 of 20 from the line.

After the teams found themselves knotted at 57 with 3:38 left, Hawaii scored five consecutive points and took the lead for good. The closest WSU came was 64-61 with 35 seconds remaining.

WSU plays Idaho State today.

•Former Mead High standout Stacy Clinesmith fed ex-Post Falls High and Eastern Washington University star Janelle Ruen for a field goal with five seconds left to lift the Idaho All-Stars to a 76-75 victory over North Idaho College in the Verizon Yellow Pages Cardinal Classic at Christianson Gym in Coeur d’Alene.

NIC was led by Sara Dennehy’s 23 points.

•Despite having four players score in double figures, Idaho lost a 69-68 nail-biter to Oklahoma State (1-1) in the first round of the New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament in Albuquerque, N.M.

Leilani Mitchell led the Vandals (1-1) with 16 points. Teammate Jordyn Bowen finished with 15, Emily Faurholt scored 12 and MacKenzie Flynn contributed 10. Idaho plays Marist, a 61-54 loser to No. 25 New Mexico, today at 6 p.m.

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Icy shooting cools off Cougars

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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