Cougs falter down the stretch, fall to Huskies in Seattle

Washington State managed to erase a double-digit halftime deficit with a strong third quarter, but was unable to complete the comeback Saturday in falling to rival Washington, 69-63, at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

The Cougars (12-7, 3-5 Pac-12) were led in scoring by freshman Borislava Hristova with 13 points.

WSU trailed by 13 points at halftime, but returned from the locker room and outscored the Huskies 24-9 in the third quarter to take a 49-47 lead into the fourth quarter.

Senior Taylor Edmondson (12 points; 4-5 from 3-point range) was a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc to spark the Cougars’ third-quarter surge. Washington head coach Mike Neighbors was slapped with a technical midway through the period, and the Cougars went 11-2 for the remainder of the quarter.

WSU took its first lead of the game with 1:02 seconds left in the third quarter and entered the fourth holding the two-point lead.

The teams traded baskets and the lead for much of the fourth quarter. With WSU leading by one point (63-62) with 2:20 to play in the game, the Huskies scored seven unanswered points, including 5-of-6 from the free throw line, to clinch the victory.

Washington State was outscored 7-0 by the Huskies over the final 2:20 after Louise Brown hit two free throws to give the Cougars a 63-62 lead. However, WSU missed four straight shots and committed a turnover down the stretch as UW grabbed control from the charity stripe.

Washington State committed a season-low seven turnovers in the game, fewest since the 2013-14 season while forcing the Huskies into 13 turnovers. UW’s Kelsey Plum, the nation’s leading scorer, scored 24 points for the Huskies. Washington State outscored the Huskies, which played just seven players in the game, by a whopping 39-0 margin off the bench.

Edmondson pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Cougars. Freshman Maria Kostourkova added nine points and Louise Brown added six rebounds.

Except for Edmondson, the Cougars struggled shooting the basketball from the perimeter. The rest of the team combined to make just 4-of-27 shots from 3-point distance. Overall, WSU shot 35.7 percent (25-70), including a paltry 30.6 percent (11-36) in the first half.

The Cougars return to Pullman before traveling to the Bay Area to face California on Friday, Jan. 29 and Stanford on Sunday, Jan. 31.

LAST FIVE RESULTS:

Jan. 8 vs. Arizona, W 67-46

Jan. 10 vs. Arizona State, L 63-45

Jan. 15 vs. USC, W 73-61

Jan. 17 vs. UCLA, L 75-73

Jan. 23 at Washington, L 69-63.

NEXT FIVE GAMES:

Jan. 29 at California, 6 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 31 at Stanford, Noon (Pac-12 Network)

Feb. 5 vs. Oregon, 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Feb. 7 vs. Oregon State, 11 a.m. (Pac-12 Network)

Feb. 12 at UCLA, 7 p.m.

PAC-12 SCHEDULE/SCORES (Jan. 22-24)

Friday, January 22

Oregon 59, Colorado 46

Arizona State 61, Arizona 49

UCLA 75, California 56

Oregon State 62, Utah 53

Stanford 57, USC 47

Saturday, January 23

Washington 69, Washington State 63

Sunday, January 24

Oregon at Utah, 1 p.m.

Oregon State at Colorado, 2 p.m.

California at USC, 2 p.m.

Arizona State at Arizona, 4 p.m.

Stanford at UCLA, 6 p.m.

(All Times Pacific)

(WazzuWatch publisher Scott Hood contributed to this story)