The absence of Charlisse Ledger-Walker was once again apparent Friday night in Tucson. WSU started slow and had multiple lulls as the Wildcats ran away with a 64-45 win. The loss is WSU’s fifth straight and drops the Cougs to 15-11 overall and 4-9 in conference play.
WSU has now lost all five games since losing Ledger-Walker in the team’s upset of UCLA on Jan. 28. Losing Ledger-Walker was devastating, and nobody has stepped up in her absence. What was a season where WSU had a shot at a fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament is now headed the wrong way, and fast.
Eleonora Villa was WSU’s only player to score in double figures. Villa finished with 16 points in 39 minutes. WSU was cold from the field, shooting just 35.8%. The Cougs were also terrible from the free throw line, hitting just five of 14 free throws.
Meanwhile, Arizona had three in double figures with Helena Pueyo leading the way with 18 points. Skylar Jones and Isis Beth had 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 21-10 lead after one and never looked back. It never got better for WSU, and an 11-8 advantage in the fourth quarter was much too little, too late. Arizona wasn’t without its lulls, either. Just look at this graph from ESPN.
WSU couldn’t capitalize when Arizona went cold, and it leaves the Cougs doing some soul searching as it looks for a leader and some wins.
Baseball opens its season win a win over Utah Tech
BALL GAME! COUGS WIN!
WSU collects 18 hits including 3 homers, 4 Cougs record 3-hit games and Grant Taylor works 5 innings in season-opening win at Utah Tech!#GoCougs | #CougsVsEverybody pic.twitter.com/dBPGVoCMwi
— Washington State Baseball (@wsucougarbsb) February 17, 2024
It’s baseball season! Our Cougs opened the season on the road against Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State) and the bats were alive in a 12-6 win. Ace Grant Taylor got the win after going five innings and giving up five runs on 10 hits. Not ideal, but his teammates had his back, particularly Cole Cramer (five RBIs) and Casen Taggart (3 RBIs). Both Taggart and Cramer went yard, along with catcher Jacob Morrow.