Things started rough for Coach June Daughtery’s Cougar (5-11, 1-4) hoops squad as they took on rival Washington (11-5, 3-2) in the first of two meetings this week. Despite hustling play by every student-athlete wearing a Washington State uniform, the Huskies hung on to earn a 60-53 victory.
For the first 20-minutes WSU was colder than a polar bear’s toenails Tuesday night in Seattle. Heck, the Cougs couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat.
It appeared the game plan of Coach Daughtery was to have the Cougs shot early and often when they had possession. Great plan if your team is knocking down their jumpers. Not the case early on.
Washington jumped out to a 14-2 lead before either team had broken a sweat. Things did not get better after that point.
The Dawgs made 6 of their first 8 three point shots. WSU? Well, they didn’t…
With a little more than 3-minutes left in the first half, the UW was enjoying a 36-16 lead. WSU closed the gaping margin to 36-21 at intermission.
Most teams would have done little more than go through the motions after halftime and head out of town as fast as possible. Not the Cougs. They came to play a full 40-minutes and did just that.
The pesky defense of WSU frustrated Husky shooters throughout the second half of play. Couple the Cougar “D” with a significant change in offensive strategy and Washington saw their huge lead shrink to just 4-points midway through the final period of play.
When WSU started to work the ball inside they were able to put points on the scoreboard.
The game was still up for grabs with about 4-minutes left at 51-44 in favor of the Dawgs. In basketball, 4-minutes can be an eternity. But for some reason, the Cougs cast aside their patience reverting back to hoisting up treys. That decision certainly wasn’t based on results.
After missing five consecutive shots from beyond the arc, WSU didn’t make a bucket over the next couple of minutes until Lia Galdeira made a nice steal and waltzed in for an uncontested layup. Unfortunately it was too little, too late.
Washington State put up an amazing 72 shots. Their futility was just as amazing, converting just 21 shots for an abysmal 29.2%.
Galdeira was the only Coug to reach double-digits scoring 14 while grabbing 12 rebounds for a double-double.
WSU will have plenty of time to work out some kinks before hosting Washington at Beasley Coliseum Sunday afternoon at 2pm. This team seems to be close to breaking out and begin a winning streak. If you can’t make it to Pullman definitely recommend watching on the Pac-12 Network.
GO COUGS!!!