WSU women hold off Pacific for 82-76 win, advancing to WCC tournament third round
LAS VEGAS – For nearly two hours of game time, Washington State was cruising. The Cougars had few issues creating separation against Pacific in Friday’s WCC tournament second-round game, getting any shot they wanted, generating stops with ease.
Then, early in the fourth frame, something changed. The ninth-seeded Cougs got in some foul trouble. The Tigers, who trailed by as many as 23, pulled to within single digits.
“So all of a sudden,” WSU coach Kamie Ethridge said, “they were shooting free throws with seven or six minutes to go, and everything was just at the rim.”
WSU is moving on to face fifth-seeded Portland in Saturday’s third round because, no matter how many free throws and baskets Pacific produced in the fourth frame, Ethridge’s team had answers. Junior guard Eleanora Villa tallied 23 points and redshirt freshman wing Keandra Koorits added 15 points for the Cougs, who hung on for an 82-75 win, sinking 8 of 13 free throws in the fourth frame.
It’s the fourth straight win for WSU (9-24), which has not enjoyed such a winning streak all season. The Cougars and Pilots will tip off at noon Saturday on ESPN+.
“We knew we had to score. We got to the point where the foul trouble got us into a lot of trouble,” said Ethridge, whose team shot 53% from the floor and made 17 of 23 free throws. “They got a lot of free points at the free -throw line and got us in foul trouble. That really just changed the momentum of the game. I just like the fact that our kids found a way to win. Different kids made shots, different players stepped up in big moments, and that’s what you need in this time of the season.”
To extend their winning streak to four for the first time since December 2024, the Cougars got a bevy of key baskets from Villa, including a contested one-handed floater with about two minutes to go. That pushed WSU’s lead from eight back to 10, giving her team the wiggle room it needed to ice the win.
Washington State has come to expect that much from Villa, who entered averaging a team-best 16.3 points per game. What’s new is the scoring from Koorits, who has now logged two straight games scoring in double figures, following a 13-point game Thursday against Seattle with a 15-point showing on Friday against Pacific.
“When she’s on, we have a chance to win a lot of games,” Ethridge said. “She’s such a talented offensive player, and her biggest thing is – it sounds so simple – turn and look at the basket when you catch it. She can shoot from great distance. She’s a great 3-point shooter. And you should take every one of those if they don’t guard you.
“She’s getting in with mixes where people are a little bit soft on her and she could score it, and she’s too quick to put the ball on the floor sometimes. But she’s also an amazing player off the bounce and her step-throughs and at the end of her dribble, she can create right- and left-handed shots and runners and outside her body – things that you just usually would say, ‘that’s a terrible shot.’ She has the ability to make those over and over and over and over.”