Cold-shooting Washington State falls to Cal 65-44 at Pac-12 Tournament

LAS VEGAS – Washington State women’s basketball coach Kamie Ethridge didn’t like the way her team performed during a 65-44 defeat at the hands of California in Wednesday’s opening round at the Pac-12 Tournament.

That doesn’t take away from the fact she still believes her Cougars deserve an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.

“They say it’s the body of work,” Ethridge said during the postgame news conference, flanked by a deflated Eleonora Villa and emotional Bella Murekatete. “I still want our team to be in it. I think we’ve shown that we compete really well against top teams in the country. I don’t know that tonight was a great representative of us.”

Villa led Washington State with 17 points and Murekatete added eight points and seven rebounds for the defending tournament champions.

The Cougars, playing without team leader Charlisse Leger-Walker, who suffered a season-ending knee injury, looked like anything but the team that closed the regular season with a 72-63 upset win at No. 13 Colorado last Saturday. They certainly didn’t resemble the team that capped off one of the most incredible runs in Pac-12 Tournament history by winning the school’s first title last March.

After tying the game at 9-all in the first quarter, the Cougars (18-14) found themselves in a hole the rest of the game, thanks to an inefficient offense, as California (18-13) seized control and never looked back.

Washington State, which finished the regular season hitting 45.3% from the floor (36th in the nation), finished 18 of 59 (30.5%) from the floor, including 3 of 13 (23.1%) from 3-point range.

“I think (Cal) came in hungrier, and they did not want to go home today,” Murekatete said, fighting back tears. “And they had a senior (Leilani McIntosh, 19 points) who was really committed to lead them and to not go home. I think that was the difference of today and the past two games we played them.”

The Cougars’ struggles from the floor started early, as they shot 25% (4 of 16) while allowing the Bears to hit 46.7% on 7-of-15 shooting in the first quarter. In outrebounding WSU 14-7, Cal outscored the Cougars 8-1 with second-chance opportunities behind five offensive boards to set the tone.

“I thought we got some really good looks, but finishing against length and athleticism, you know, being sped up a little bit, pressing a little bit, we weren’t able to put some shots down,” Ethridge said. “I thought they did a great job in just guarding the pick-and-roll with two players and not coming off and not giving us very many good looks on the perimeter.”

With the lopsided loss, WSU’s NCAA Tournament hopes may have suffered drastically, despite coming into the conference tournament with a NET ranking of 25.

“If they stay true to what they say, as far as body of work and the whole year, I mean … we challenged ourselves in nonconference,” Ethridge said. “Yes, we had a key injury, but we still beat someone in the top 15 on the road. I don’t care how we get in. I’d love us to have a chance to play. I’d love us to have a better chance to perform better than we did tonight.”

The Cougars’ résumé includes a 20-point win in Cancun over Maryland, which had received votes at the time, and losses at then-No. 8 Stanford by nine points and then-No. 11 USC by eight.

Two days after losing to the Trojans, the Cougars knocked off then-No. 2 UCLA 85-82.

But without Leger-Walker the rest of the way, the Cougars lost seven of their next nine – five against Top 25 teams – until ending the season with their upset win at Colorado.

“We’re hopeful,” Ethridge said. “We’re hoping that the committee looks at our entire year’s work. And I think it would be a great situation for our team to have a chance to perform in the NCAA Tournament. We had a really hard conference schedule, as far as the people we doubled up. Again, had a hard injury, I understand that. If you want to punish us for injury, I understand that maybe we don’t make the tournament.

“But they always say it’s the body of work. A seed, they might give us a bad seed. Maybe we deserve a lesser seed, but I just think it’s insane not to think that seven, eight or nine teams could get in from the Pac, with the depth of our league, and I think we’re one of those.”