Lia Galdeira Lights It Up to Advance Washington State in Pac-12 Tournament
By Josh Davis
Lia Galdeira Twitter
Washington State’s Lia Galdeira was simply ridiculous in the second half of the 8 vs 9 seed first round game of the Pac-12 Tournament, in which the Cougars advanced with a 48-41 win over Arizona State in Seattle.
The Pac-12’s only All-Conference freshman this season brought the Cougs back from an early 8 point deficit, as WSU only scored 13 first half points but kept touch with the Sun Devils, allowing 18. It was Galdeira who hit a difficult jumper from the top of the key with less than a minute to go in the half, giving WSU it’s 5th bucket of the half and essentially breaking the lid.
In the second half she started by scoring 5 straight Cougar points, including her first of two 3’s to cut the Devil lead to 21-20. A couple minutes later she drilled another 3 to give the Cougs a 27-25 lead with around 15:00 to play.
After Washington State extended the lead to 10 at 39-29 over the next 8 minutes, Galdeira struck again, making a big time double crossover move behind her back and pulling up from 17 feet to throw in a fadeaway dagger at the 7:40 mark. Washington State would basically cruise from there, closing out the Sun Devils to advance to round 2.
What a huge win for the woman’s program. Unfortunately they draw a very difficult matchup against Stanford tomorrow at 6 pm. The Cardinal have won 7 straight… Pac-12 championships that is. Of course, after 28-2 (17-1) regular season they are again the #1 seed in the tourney and are National Championship contenders.
Side note on WSU’s head coach June Daugherty from Pac12.com:
"June Daugherty was diagnosed with acute appendicitis Thursday afternoon before her squad arrived for shootaround and left immediately for a local hospital, leaving her husband to patrol the sidelines as she underwent surgery. It’s the first game Daugherty has missed in her 24-year coaching career."