SEATTLE – Washington State University saw its season come to an end with 79-60 defeat to top-seeded Stanford University in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament quarterfinal matchup at KeyArena Friday.
The Cougars finish the season with an 11-20 overall record after posting a win in the conference tournament for the second straight season. The Cardinal improved to 29-2 overall and advance to Saturday's semifinal.
Freshman guard Lia Galdeira led WSU with 16 points and finished the season with a WSU freshman single-season record 459 points, tenth-most in WSU single-season history. Freshman forward Mariah Cooks added nine points and five rebounds while freshman guard Dawnyelle Awa added eight points and five rebounds. Junior forward Hana Potter recorded eight points, four rebounds and two steals.
Washington State shot 34.7 percent from the field and went 5-of-24 from behind the arc. The Cardinal shot 52.6 percent and knocked down 10 threes. WSU turned 16 Stanford turnovers in 18 points but surrendered 15 second-chance points. Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike posted game highs of 23 points and 21 rebounds.
The Cougars had coach June Daugherty back on the bench a day after she underwent emergency surgery to remove her appendix.
Washington State advanced to the quarterfinals for the second straight year and the loss was muted by the return of Daugherty to the bench. Daugherty was cleared by doctors to attend Friday's game, but sat behind the Cougars bench while her husband, Mike, was the lead coach for the second straight night.
That didn't stop her from getting involved. She was on the floor giving out high-fives just before the opening tip and during timeouts would join her team in the huddle. Occasionally Daugherty would linger next to her husband and give instruction as play was happening before returning to her seat.
"It was definitely different. Sitting up a couple of rows higher, and able to watch it from a different perspective and then on timeouts, I just tried to help with some of the adjustments that we were trying to do and some of the substitutions," Daugherty said. "So it was really different. I don't want to do it anymore. It wasn't that good."
The Cougars withstood a couple early Stanford runs, answering a 10-0 Cardinal streak with a 6-0 spurt as Galdeira scored on a backdoor cut, Awa drove in for a layin and redshirt-junior guard Ireti Amojo turned a steal into a layup.
Potter provided a spark off the bench for WSU, converting on a jumphook before Awa followed with another driving layin. The Cougars run grew to 8-2 after senior center Carly Noyes hit a left hook and Cooks powered through two defenders for a layup, cutting the Stanford lead to 31-23 with 1:47 remaining.
The Cardinal closed the half with four straight points and went into the half leading 35-23.
Stanford opened the second half with five straight points to extend its lead. Cooks added a three but the Cardinal continued to answer and slowly pulled away.
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