Washington State women take care of Arizona 78-57 ahead of difficult road trip

From staff reports

PULLMAN – Mission accomplished.

Before facing arguably its most daunting Pac-12 road trip, the Washington State women’s basketball team completed a home sweep of the Arizona schools, dispatching the visiting Arizona Wildcats 78-57 on Sunday.

The Cougars (14-3 overall, 3-3 Pac-12) travel to sixth-ranked Southern California (13-3, 3-3) on Friday and finish at No. 5 UCLA (15-1, 4-1) on Sunday.

The win Sunday moved WSU into a tie for fifth in the conference. It’s believed the top eight Pac-12 teams will earn NCAA Tournament berths.

It was the Cougars’ third straight conference win after an 0-3 start.

WSU led 34-31 after a tightly contested first half. The Cougars pulled away in the final two quarters.

The Cougars were led by double-doubles from Bella Murekatete and Charlisse Leger-Walker.

Murekatete had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Leger-Walker scored 10 points and dished out 11 assists. Tara Wallack led with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. Eleonora Villa and Jenna Villa added 11 points apiece.

Arizona slipped to 10-9 and 2-5.

WSU had to dig out of an early hole. Two free throws from Kailyn Gilbert gave the Wildcats a 14-5 lead with 4:18 remaining in the first quarter.

The Cougars chipped away, finally taking their firsts lead at 16-15 on a layup from Leger-Walker with 1:28 to go in the opening quarter.

WSU pushed the lead to 10 points late in the third quarter, and it only grew from there.

The Cougars outscored Arizona 19-8 over the 7:43 put the game away.