After scoring just three points in the opening quarter, the Washington State Cougars scored a massive 68 points in the final three quarters and completed a 17-point comeback victory over the USC Trojans, 71–63.
After scoring the lowest points in a quarter in program history to open the game, Washington State (10-5, 2-2 in the Pac-12) defeated USC (8-5, 1-2) in the last 30. Won 22. Minute game to pick up a huge, resume-building victory in Los Angeles. This is the team's first win in LA since 2014.
His lone basket of the first quarter of Ula Motuga, the Cougar was kept scoreless for the first 7:58 of the ballgame before hitting a 3-pointer. Meanwhile, USC took full control of the Cougars' slow offensive start, and took a 17-3 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes of the game. The Trojan lead will reach 17 with 7:13 to go into the second quarter. Johanna Tedder will take over the remaining quarter from there, scoring six straight points and ending the frame with 10 points, including a pair of threes. Motuga halved his career-high for three in a game when he hit his third 3-pointer to cut the Trojans' halftime lead to seven.
Charlize Lager-Walker and Bella Murektete would continue the comeback effort to start the third quarter, taking the Cougar's first eight points. After WSU came within three, the defense was able to force a nearly four-minute-long scoring drought for the Trojans. In that period, Tedder once again grew up to be a cougar. She went on a personal 5-point run that gave the Cougars their first lead of the game.
The Cougar defense was again relentless during the final quarter of the game. Another four-minute scoring drought for the Trojans was fueled by a personal 5-point run from Charlize that gave the Cougar a 7-point lead. Murekatete would seal the big comeback win for the Cougars with a pair of buckets in the final two minutes.
After shooting just 7.1% off the field in the first quarter, the 'cardiac cogs' shot 47.8% in the rest of the ballgame. Tedder was brilliant for WSU, scoring a team-high 20 points with four 3-pointers. Motuga also added four 3s from outside on his best career shooting night. This team, no matter what obstacles stand in their way, continues to dig deep and find effective ways to fight back and win the game.
The Cougars will see the magic roll on Sunday afternoon when they visit the UCLA Bruins in the afternoon.
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