Hobbled Cougars fall to No. 9 Arizona State in Presley’s final game

SEATTLE – Fighting off injuries to its star guards, Washington State couldn’t match No. 9 Arizona State’s shooting in the second half and the Sun Devils pulled away for a 67-48 win Friday in a Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal at Seattle’s KeyArena.

In her final game as a Cougar, senior guard Tia Presley (Gonzaga Prep) had a career-best seven steals and led all scorers with 16 points even after she missed more than three minutes with an injured ankle.

Junior guard Lia Galdeira, who scored 34 points Thursday in the 66-64 win over Oregon, also hurt a knee and returned to finish with 12 points.

“It was a gutsy performance by Lia and Tia to come back out and play. They were obviously in a lot of pain,” coach June Daugherty said. “They weren’t able to be as explosive as they usually are.”

Sophie Brunner scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half to pace the Sun Devils (27-4). Arizona State’s Kelsey Moos, of Edwall, Washington, scored eight points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Sun Devils (27-4).

“Congratulations to Arizona State,” Daugherty said. “They are as tenacious as advertised. They just go to a whole different level once their defense is going.”

The Cougars (17-14) now wait what’s expected to be its second-consecutive invitation to the WNIT.

“I’m looking forward to whatever we do postseason to keep practicing, keep improving and get ready to make a great run,” Daugherty said.

The Cougars missed their first nine shots and took nearly eight minutes to score until Presley hit a layup to make the score 7-2.

Galdeira went down early and needed help to leave the court. After getting her knee taped, she returned with 11:41 left in the half, which ended with the Sun Devils leading 19-16.

Both teams shot just over 27 percent from the floor, including a combined 2 of 12 from the 3-point arc. The 16 points were the fewest the Cougars had scored in any half this season.

“I felt pretty good going into the half,” Daugherty said. “But in the second half, we had to weather some adversity with Tia going down. We kind of ran out of gas and they really took it to us inside.”

Moos, who played at Reardan HS, said the Sun Devils expected the Cougars to challenge every pass and play.

“We have a pretty good rivalry with Washington State,” she said. “So, we knew coming into this it was going to be a really physical game. I thought we did a much better job in the second half adjusting to that and playing strong.”

The performance ended the stellar career of Presley, who missed most of her first two years with injuries before being named to the All Pac-12 team last year and honorable mention this season.

“It’s kind of crazy that I just played in my last Pac-12 game,” Presley said. “It’s been an honor to be a Coug the past four years through injuries and all the adversity my team has faced.”

Daugherty spoke at length about what Presley meant to the resurgence of Washington State basketball. Presley had 25 games this season and 72 for her career when she scored in double figures.

“For a kid to be the fifth-leading scorer in this league at her size … I’m just really, really proud of her,” Daugherty. “She’s been phenomenal. I just can’t say enough about Tia and her career.”

(19) Stanford 67, UCLA 62: Amber Orrange scored 18 points, Lili Thompson added 14 and the third-seeded Cardinal (22-9) held off a late rally by the sixth-seeded Bruins (13-18). Paulina Hersler’s 3-point attempt in the final seconds for UCLA appeared to be partially deflected and fell short.

Colorado 68, (8) Oregon State 65: Lexy Kresl scored 19 points, Jamee Swan picked up 11 of her 18 in the second half and the ninth-seed Buffalos stunned the top-seeded Beavers.

Colorado (15-16) watched the regular-season champion Beavers erase a seven-point deficit and take a 60-59 lead with 4:21 remaining on Ruth Hamblin’s three-point play. But the Buffaloes scored the next eight points and held Oregon State (26-4) scoreless for more than four minutes.

California 69, Washington 53: Brittany Boyd scored 14 of her 20 points in the second half and grabbed 10 rebounds and fourth-seeded California pulled away from fifth-seeded Washington for a 69-53 win in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament.

Mercedes Jefflo added 16 points for the Bears (22-8), who face ninth-seeded Colorado in Saturday’s semifinals.

Jazmine Davis led Washington (23-9) with 21 points and Kelsey Plum had 15.