PULLMAN, Wash. - The Saint Mary's women's basketball team put together another balanced offensive performance, finishing 41% from the field and nearly 80% from the free throw line. The Gaels outscored the Cougars 37-34 in the second half but were just 3-for-10 in a ten-point second quarter that put them down 13 at the half.
The deficit was too much to overcome despite holding the Cougars to 14 points on 36% shooting in the fourth as the Gaels dropped their second straight game. They fall to 9-9 in WCC play and are currently in sixth place, awaiting the final score from San Francisco and Gonzaga later this afternoon.
Zeryhia Aokuso was the lone starter in double figures for Saint Mary's, finishing with 17 points on 57% shooting.
Emily Foy was once again a nice spark off the bench for the Gaels, adding ten points and a pair of three pointers in her 29 minutes of action.
FIRST HALF SMC 25-38 WSU
After a 4-4 start, Washington State would go on a 9-2 run to take a seven-point lead in the first. The Gaels went 1-for-4 during that stretch but came out of the media timeout with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit back down to two.
Kennedy Johnson helped spark that run with a three-point play, getting great post position and finishing through contact to earn the foul.
Down five in the closing seconds of the quarter,
Mauriana Hashemian-Orr would go the length of the floor and kiss a floater off the glass to make it a three-point game as time expired. The Gaels found themselves just down 15-18 after a nice close to the opening quarter.
Aokuso would connect on a jumper to start the second quarter and make it a one-point game but the Cougars would answer with a 12-3 run including back-to-back three pointers from Astera Tuhina. Washington State would shoot over 60% from the field and hit three three pointers in the quarter to outscore Saint Mary's 20-10 and take a 13-point lead into the break.
FINAL SMC 62-72 WSU
The Cougars lead would grow to as many as 18 points in the third quarter as they did the majority of their damage at the stripe. WSU finished 8-for-10 from the free throw line and hit another pair of three pointers in the quarter. Aokuso had six points in the quarter and a three pointer from
Jada Hunter as time expired would make it a 15-point game heading into the fourth.
A 5-0 run for the Cougars to start the fourth would give them their largest lead of the game at 20 points. Charlotte Abraham would hit a three pointer to make it 63-43 with 7:27 left in the fourth. Saint Mary's showed no quit though as they went on an incredible 13-2 scoring run under the five-minute mark to miraculously cut the deficit to single digits.
Aokuso and Johnson had back-to-back layups to get the run started and then
Sasha Murphy and
Edie Clarke made layups inside to make it a nine-point game with a minute and a half to play. On the very next possession though Washington State's Kyra Gardner would hit a dagger three to push the lead back to twelve with less than a minute remaining.
Murphy hit a pair of free throws to cut it to ten but Washington State would hang on for the win, 72-62, to improve to 13-6 in conference play. Just two players finished in double figures for Saint Mary's and their three-point shooting woes continued as they were 3-for-11 in the game.
The Gaels hit several offensive marks in the afternoon, outscoring the Cougars in paint points, points off turnovers and second chance points but they shot 40% from three and were also positive on the glass to keep the Gaels quiet in the deciding second quarter. Saint Mary's its in sixth place at 9-9 and will have some work to do in their final two games of the regular season to get back into the top half of the WCC standings.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's fell below .500 Saturday afternoon and are now 13-14 overall and 9-9 in WCC play after their second defeat of the season to Washington State. They will return to UCU Pavilion next Thursday for their final home game and Senior Day against Oregon State. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 PM on ESPN+ and tickets can be bought online at smcgaels.com/tickets.
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