Portland beats Washington State in matchup of WCC contenders 83-65

PULLMAN – The Portland women’s basketball team won for the 18th time this season – all 18 by double digits.

The Pilots didn’t play the most challenging nonconference schedule, but that pattern has followed into West Coast Conference play.

It was on display Thursday when the Pilots scored a big road win, knocking Washington State out of a share of first place with an impressive 83-65 win before 1,015 at Beasley Coliseum.

The Cougars (12-9, 7-3 WCC) trailed essentially the whole game, but they bounced back from a poor start to the second half to pull within 57-50 late in the third quarter.

Portland (18-3, 7-3) got an easy basket at the buzzer to stop Washington State’s momentum going into the fourth quarter.

With Gonzaga (12-8, 7-2) idle Thursday, the Cougars could have moved into sole possession of first. But the Pilots weren’t obliging. Saint Mary’s (11-7, 7-2) grabbed a share of first with a 72-63 win Thursday over San Diego.

WSU coach Kamie Ethridge couldn’t sing the Pilots’ praises enough afterward. Ethridge didn’t know how to explain the Pilots’ pattern of wins other than to say they were much better than her team Thursday.

“They were consistently really good tonight,” Ethridge said. “They were unaffected by us for the most part. They had timely shots, timely (3-pointers), managed the game well. Just give them a lot of credit.”

The Cougars didn’t commit many turnovers, but the 12 they had resulted in 18 points for Portland. The Pilots made seven more 3-pointers (11 of 23 to WSU’s 4 of 14).

Through sheer grit, the Cougars fought back from a 17-point deficit in the third quarter to give themselves a chance going into the fourth.

The Cougars fell back into a double-digit deficit and didn’t have an answer for the Pilots.

“We were trying different defensive schemes on the fly and it’s kind of hard to adjust,” WSU’s lone senior Tara Wallack said. “I think we were pretty tired, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for that kind of play.”

Seemingly every time the Cougars were on the verge of slowing down the Pilots, Portland hit critical shots late in the shot clock to keep WSU at bay.

“The fact we give up back cuts and give up (3-pointers) after playing 28 seconds of good defense, it just crushes you,” Ethridge said.

“It’s a lot of respect for that team and telling our young players that the way that team competed is impressive and the toughness they showed … I don’t think they took very many bad shots.”

Eleonora Villa led WSU with 13 points, Candace Kpetikou came off the bench for 12 and six rebounds in 17 minutes, and Wallack added 10 points and six rebounds.

Emme Shearer led Portland with 24 points and seven rebounds, Alexis Mark had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Trista Hull added 18 points and nine rebounds

In the first half, Portland used early separation to hold back the Cougars for the first 20 minutes.

The Pilots opened a 10-point lead early. WSU fought back, closing within 22-20 when Kpetikou scored off a nice assist from Astera Tuhina with 7:45 to go before halftime.

Portland pushed the lead to 32-24 by the second media timeout, but the Cougs fought back.

Still, WSU didn’t score a field goal in the final 4 minutes, 22 seconds of the half.

“We weren’t quite prepared like we should have been,” Ethridge said. “We didn’t have a good plan against them. It’s just my fault ultimately, because this scout wasn’t as good as it needed to be and we’ve got to fix that.”

WSU begins the second half of conference Saturday on the road at Loyola Marymount. The road to remain in contention for the best WCC Tournament seeding includes return games at Portland, Gonzaga and Oregon State.