The Cougs shot a blazing hot 59% in the first half and led 32-26 at the break as Auburn made 32% of their shots.<\/span>
The Tigers flipped the script in the third quarter, out-scoring Wazzu 20-9. Auburn shot 53% in the third quarter while WSU made three shots (3-for-12, 25%). <\/span>
The Cougs found more success in the game\u2019s final 10 minutes, shooting 40% from the floor and 57% from beyond the arc. However, the Tigers began the fourth quarter with a five-point lead and did not allow the Cougs to get closer than that until an Eleonora Villa 3-pointer made it a four-point game with 0:37 left.<\/span>
The Cougs kept Auburn\u2019s leading scorer, graduate student Honesty Scott-Grayson, scoreless in the first half. Scott-Grayson ignited the Tigers’ comeback by cracking the Cougar code, making 5-of-8 shots including two 3-pointers and 5-of-6 from the free throw line to total 17 points.<\/span>
The third quarter is characteristically the strongest quarter for head coach Kamie Ethridge\u2019s team. In both of WSU\u2019s landmark wins this year (77-72 (OT) over Gonzaga, Nov. 9 and 87-67 over Maryland Nov. 23) the third quarter was the strongest overall quarter. WSU out-scored Gonzaga 21-17 and out-scored Maryland 26-13 in the third quarter of those wins.<\/span>
In Wazzu\u2019s final non-conference game of the year, two Cougs scored in the third quarter and only Charlisse Leger-Walker scored from the floor.<\/span>
Three days removed from her second career-triple-double, Leger-Walker was one rebound shy of a third triple-double. The All-Conference senior scored 12 points (7 in the third quarter) with 10 assists and nine rebounds. Leger-Walker made 4-of-10 from the floor but missed each of her four 3-point attempts. She attempted half (five) of her shots in the third quarter.<\/span>
Her 3-point percentage is sitting at a would-be career-low 18.6%.
Leger-Walker was one of three Cougs to be charged with four personal fouls each. Her fourth foul did not come until the game\u2019s final seconds as she played a full 40 minutes.<\/span>
Two days removed from a career-best 21-point performance, junior Tara Wallack drew four personal fouls and collected 4 points, making 2-of-3 shots in 31 minutes.<\/span>
All-Conference senior center Bella Murekatete also drew four personal fouls, shooting the ball three times and scoring 4 points in 23 minutes on the floor.<\/span>
The first quarter was another episode of the Villa show for Wazzu.<\/span>
Freshmen Eleonora Villa and Jenna Villa (no relation) scored a combined 13 points in the game\u2019s first 10 minutes. Eleonora scored 7 points (3-for-6, 1-for-2 from three). Jenna made both of her deep shots two days after the Pac-12 named her Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for her career-best 18-point and four 3-pointer performance in WSU\u2019s 95-48 win over Houston, Sunday.\u00a0<\/span>
Eleonora shot 2-of-12 in the remaining three quarters and Jenna shot the ball two more times.<\/span>
Auburn kept things close, trailing 10-9 at 4:17 mark of the first before The Villas combined for 10 points to give Wazzu a 20-13 lead after 10 minutes.<\/span>
Sophomore Astera Tuhina paced the Cougars in scoring with 15 points. She scored 5 points in the second and 10 in the fourth quarter as the spark to the Cougars\u2019 aspiring comeback.<\/span>
Tuhina shot 5-for-9 with a 3-for-6 clip from beyond the arc.<\/span>
Her first 3-pointer of the game sparked a 6-0 Wazzu run in the final 2:04 of the first half to put the Cougs up 32-26 at halftime.<\/span>
In the fourth quarter, Tuhina made a 3-pointer at the 4:10 mark to break a 5-0 Tiger run and bring the Cougs back within 7 points.<\/span>
Her final 3-pointer with 1:07 remaining brought the Cougs within 5 points of the Tiger lead, 64-59.<\/span>
Eleonora made her final 3-pointer with 37 seconds remaining, but the Tigers rattled off three straight points off of free throw from Oyindamola Akinbolawa and Scott-Grayson.<\/span>
Auburn beat WSU 69-62. After falling to California 67-53, Nov. 17 on their home floor, the Tigers’ ability to defend their home court before beginning their SEC schedule is essential to third-year Auburn coach Johnnie Harris\u2019 leading her team back to the postseason.<\/span>
For WSU, their third loss of the year and second of nonconference play hurts WSU\u2019s tournament resume right before the Cougs tackle their Pac-12 Conference schedule, in which six programs are ranked in the AP Top 25.\u00a0<\/span>
WSU will play nine games against programs that are ranked in the AP\u2019s Dec. 18 poll, The Cougs will face No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 USC, No. 8 Colorado, No. 9 Stanford, No. 11 Utah and No. 23 Washington at least once with two meetings with Stanford, Colorado and Utah.<\/span>
In response to their Dec. 10 60-55 loss to UW, Leger-Walker said the team attacked the following week of practice with a different mindset, instilled by Ethridge.<\/span>
\u201cWe knew that we could play better than, you know, what we showed,\u201d Leger-Walker said.<\/span>
WSU delivered a complete performance on Sunday, beating the Houston Cougars 95-48. The less-than 72-hour turnaround to travel to the Eastern timezone is always a challenge. The trip proved to be one in which the Cougars were beaten by a rising Auburn Tigers squad defending their home court before the holidays.<\/span>
The Cougs have 15 days between their Wednesday loss to Auburn and their Jan. 5 trip to Palo Alto, California to face No. 9 Stanford and begin the remainder of their Pac-12 Conference schedule.<\/span>
Those 15 days include a nine-day break, which started Thursday, to celebrate the holidays with their families.<\/span>
It is the longest break Ethridge had given a team, Ethridge said\u00a0<\/span>
Ethridge said she trusts her team to be mature over break and stay in shape when it might be tempting to take the whole time off.<\/span>
\u201cThis is about being grown up and being mature and being a pro and showing up back like you know, yes, get away a little bit. Yes, refresh, but it’s not take nine days off. We don’t have that mindset or mentality and I trust my team to be good about that,\u201d Ethridge said.<\/span>
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