Daugherty gets 100th win at Colorado

Led by freshman Maria Kostourkova, the Washington State women’s basketball team defeated Colorado, 74-66, in Boulder Monday night, snapping a brief two-game losing streak.

The Cougars (10-4, 1-2 Pac-12) earned their first conference victory of the season behind a career-high 17 points from Kostourkova. The WSU bench poured in 47 points during the game compared to just seven points from Colorado’s (5-8, 0-2 Pac-12) bench players.

Seniors Mariah Cooks and Taylor Edmondson complemented Kostourkova, as Cooks led the Cougars with 12 rebounds and added 10 points for her fourth-career double-double. Edmondson scored 12 points, including a pair of free throws in the final minute to secure the victory. In total, nine WSU players scored in the game.

WSU head coach June Daugherty earned her 100th-career victory at Washington State. Daugherty is the first coach in Pac-12 Conference history to win 100 games at multiple conference programs (Washington, WSU). She became the third coach in WSU program history to reach 100 victories (Sue Durant with 134; Harold Rhodes with 194).

“It’s such a privilege to coach at Washington State,” Daugherty said. “I just feel like it’s such an honor. I’m just blessed to work with unbelievable young people that are on this team and the others I’ve had at Washington State. I just really appreciate them and their hard work and their dedication to be Cougs.”

Strong shooting, particularly from 3-point range, helped the Cougars secure victory. Washington State shot 27-of-56 (.482) from the floor and 8-of-13 (.615) from beyond the arc. Sophomore Louise Brown shot a perfect 3-of-3 from the field, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range.

After starting the game 0-of-7 from the floor, the Cougars finished the first half 14-of-20 (.700). Tied with CU at the end of the first quarter, WSU took control of the game in the second. The Cougars outscored the Buffaloes 21-14 in the second quarter after seven lead changes. WSU entered the locker room leading 39-32 behind eight first-half points from Brown.

"I thought we played well after coming from Utah at high altitude and then even higher altitude here,” Daugherty said. “We know they’re a really good team, but we wanted to rotate our players early and often. Really try to get after them defensively and get into our running game. That’s not always easy to do at altitude, but I thought our players really responded to that. It was a great team victory."

Returning from the locker room, the Cougars outscored Colorado 22-14 in the third period. WSU built a double-digit lead midway through the quarter, led by an eight-point quarter from Kostourkova and six points from Cooks. Washington State secured the victory in the fourth quarter, making 3-of-6 free throws in the final two minutes.

Washington State will return to Pullman to begin a two-week homestand. The Cougars welcome the Arizona Wildcats, Friday, Jan. 8. WSU and Arizona are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. inside Beasley Coliseum.

“Rebounding was paramount for us,” Daugherty said. “And I thought we took care of the basketball except for the very, very end. We have been a little turnover prone all year, but for the most part I thought we were pretty clean with the basketball."

Box Score: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=103914

COUGS NIPPED IN UTAH: Washington State’s hopes for a come-from-behind victory fell short at the Huntsman Center Saturday evening as the Cougars dropped their Pac-12 road opener at Utah, 73-71. WSU freshman Borislava Hristova led all scorers with 23 points and senior Taylor Edmondson added 17 points to tie her career best.

After the Utes (9-3, 1-0) built a 13-point lead at halftime, the Cougars rallied by outscoring Utah 27-16 in the third quarter. Washington State took its first lead of the game with 1:28 left to play after Edmondson made a 3-pointer from the right wing. Utah regained the lead when Danielle Rodriguez made a layup with 38 seconds left. After turning the ball over, the Cougars were forced to foul Utah’s Tanaeya Boclair who made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Utes a two-point lead with 14 seconds left.

The Cougars rebounded the missed free throw before calling timeout to draw up a play. With three seconds left on the clock, Hristova attempted a 3-pointer from the deep left corner. The shot caught the front of the rim before falling out. Sophomore Louise Brown rebounded the ball, but was unable to put a shot up before time expired.

“I thought we got a great look at the end,” Daugherty said. “The execution was right on. Borislava got a good look and Louise got the rebound, but we just couldn’t convert.”

The game was a tale of two halves. After Utah outscored WSU 41-28 in the opening 20 minutes, the Cougars responded by nearly erasing the deficit and outscoring the Utes 43-32 over the final 20 minutes. The Cougars shot just 32.4 percent from the floor in the opening half, while Utah shot 47.2 percent. In the second half WSU shot 47.2 percent while the Utes was held to 39.1 percent.

Washington State forced Utah into 25 turnovers in the game as the Cougars notched a season-high 16 steals. WSU redshirt freshman Nike McClure scored a career-high seven points for WSU, while she and Brown each grabbed five rebounds to lead the Cougars. WSU was outrebounded 48-31 by Utah.

“I’m proud of the team,” Daugherty said. “We played physical in the second half. We played really hard as a team on both ends of the floor. The biggest thing that we take away from this is that we have to rebound stronger.”

Box Score: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=104013

LAST FIVE RESULTS:

Dec. 12 at St. Mary’s, L 75-71

Dec. 20 at Kansas, W 66-53

Dec. 29 Washington, L 79-64

Jan. 2 at Utah, L 73-71

Jan. 4 at Colorado, W 74-66

NEXT FIVE GAMES:

Jan. 8 Arizona, 7 p.m.*

Jan. 10 Arizona State, Noon* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 15 USC, 8 p.m.* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 17 UCLA, Noon* (Pac-12 Network)

Jan. 23 at Washington* (Pac-12 Network) * Pac-12 Game

(Wazzu Watch publisher Scott Hood contributed to this story)