Washington State women see season come to an end with loss to USC in Pac-12 Tournament
SEATTLE – Minyon Moore scored 16 points and Aliyah Mazyck scored 14 to lead seventh-seeded USC to a 47-44 win over Washington State on Thursday night in the first round of the Pac-12 women’s basketball tournament.
The Trojans advance to play No. 2 seed Stanford.
Borislava Hristova started the fourth quarter with a three-point play and a layup to put the Cougars up 36-35 with 8 minutes, 55 seconds left. Sadie Edwards put USC (19-10) up for good with a pair of free throws and Kirsten Simon followed with a layup for 39-36 margin. Moore’s jumper with 6:05 left made it 41-36 and neither team scored for two minutes.
Nike McClure hit a shot to bring Washington State within 41-38, Moore responded with a 3 and McClure followed that with a three-point play. Sadie Edwards’ free throw made it 45-41 and McClure countered with another three-point play with 46 seconds to go.
On the next Trojans possession, Simon and Edwards missed shots, but USC corralled offensive rebounds off both and forced the Cougars to foul. Moore ended the game with a layup and the Cougars never got another shot off.
Simon grabbed 12 rebounds and Jordan Adams grabbed 10.
McClure led 10th-seeded Washington State (10-19) with 12 points.
California 71, Washington 68: Asha Thomas scored 12 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter and the Golden Bears (21-9) won their first-round game when Amber Melgoza of the Huskies (7-23) missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Melgoza, who scored 30 points, had 14 of the Huskies’ 17 points in the fourth quarter as they erased a 10-point deficit with 6 minutes to go.
The fifth-seeded Golden Bears, who won at Washington 83-67 on Sunday, play fourth-seeded and ninth-ranked UCLA in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Thomas scored the last seven points of a 9-0 run to open the fourth quarter to give Cal a 59-51 lead. After a Melgoza three-point play, Jaelyn Brown scored the next five points for a 64-54 Cal lead. Mackenzie Wieburg had a three-point play to start the Washington comeback. Melgoza’s three-point play made it 69-67 with 19.7 seconds remaining but Thomas made two free throws with 18.5 to go to restore the two-possession cushion.
Melgoza made a free throw and missed the second, but the Huskies got the offensive rebound on a tie-up with 10 seconds to go, giving Melgoza one last chance.
Jaelyn Brown and Mikayla Cowling scored 14 points each for Cal.
Weiburg had 10 for the 12th-seeded Huskies, who lost 11 straight.