Freshmen and sophomore duo pace WSU for Senior Day win over Oregon 71-61

The duo of Ele Villa and Astera Tuhina combine for 44 in the win.

In an afternoon dedicated to honoring one of the best senior classes in program history, it was the underclassmen stealing the show for the Washington State Cougars in their 71-61 victory over the Oregon Ducks.

Freshman Ele Villa and sophomore Astera Tuhina led the way with a combined 44 points — a career-high 24 from Tuhina — on 54.8% shooting between the two to help push WSU (17-12, 6-10 in Pac-12) across the finish line. Oregon (11-18, 2-14) trailed by just five entering the halftime break, but a third quarter explosion put WSU up 16 headed into the final frame and held on from there.

It was a rock fight early as both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net. The Ducks hit just two of their first 12 shots in the first quarter, but hit all four of their free throws, while WSU cashed five of their 14 shots to hold a narrow 10-8 lead.

The Ducks shot slightly better in the second, but shot themselves in the foot with five turnovers to allow WSU to hold the lead throughout the second. WSU took advantage of a trio of the Ducks turnovers early on to spark a kill shot run. Ele Villa cashed a trey after a travel on the Ducks and Tuhina knocked home back-to-back shots off two more Ducks turnovers to extend the run. The duo capped the run with each hitting two-point jumpers for an 11-0 run.

The Ducks finished the half strong with a 6-0 run in the final 82 seconds to cut the halftime deficit to five.

Like we had seen from this WSU team so many times before, they owned the third quarter. Phillipina Kyei brought the deficit to one with a pair of buckets to open the quarter, but WSU drew the line there, matching each Oregon bucket with own of their own to preserve the lead. Bella Murekatete helped separate the Cougs with a pair of twos to kickstart a run finished off by a Beyonce Bea layup and Tuhina trey.

With the lead swelling to double-digits, Ele Villa delivered the exclamation point with a three before the third quarter horn to push WSU up to their largest lead of the game at 16.

The Ducks made a push to open the final frame with a 10-2 run to pull back within eight, but WSU held the Ducks at an arms length the rest of the way. Tuhina and Ele Villa combined to score 16 of WSU’s final 20 points to secure the home finale victory and keep WSU’s tournament hopes alive.

A loss to the Ducks would’ve been cataclysmic for WSU’s March dreams. While they are still alive, they likely need to secure an upset of one the mountain schools to put themselves in a good position heading into the conference tournament.

After the underclassmen elevated WSU to the win, the Cougars honored six seniors; assistant Ekin Celikdemier, Bea, Johanna Teder, Jessica Clarke and the legendary duo of Murekatete and Charlisse Leger-Walker. Teder, Clarke and Leger-Walker do have a fifth year of eligibility to use should they choose to. But for Bea and Murekatete, this ends their time at WSU.

While Bea and Murekatete have played their final game at Beasley Coliseum, they still have at least three more games in crimson and can hopefully help lead WSU to more in the final weeks. Their quest for more will start with a trip to Salt Lake City to play the Utah Utes on Thursday night.

Please enjoy this photo gallery of the game and Senior Day ceremonies from our extraordinary photographer Ashley Davis.

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