Amidst the chaos of Washington State’s Holiday Bowl game and the hiring of their new head coach, both basketball teams picked up conference wins on Saturday in comfortable fashion. The men won their inaugural WCC game on the road at Portland, defeating the Portland Pilots 89-73, while the women moved to 2-0 in conference play, beating the Pepperdine Waves in Pullman 67-46.
Both were fairly expected outcomes, as Portland and Pepperdine have struggled to begin the season. KenPom had the men’s team as 15-point favorites over the Pilots, and Bartorvik had the women’s team as 20.5-point favorites. WSU covered both spreads by a combined two points.
Down in Portland it was the Ethan Price show from the opening tip. The 6’10 senior opened with three straight treys to put WSU up 9-4. Parker Gerrits, Nate Okafor, and LeJuan Watts got in on the fun as part of a dominant 16-0 WSU run to give the Cougars an early 15-point lead. WSU continued to burn the nets with an absurd 10/17 from beyond the arc in the first half with four from Price, three from Dane Erikstrup, and one each from Watts, Nate Calmese, and Gerrits. Overall, WSU shot 60.6% from the field in the first 20 minutes of play. On the opposite end, the Pilots couldn’t find any rhythm offensively for much of the first half. The Pilots hit just five of their first 18 shots and missed their first five three-pointers, allowing WSU to balloon their lead all the way out to 27 with still 6:13 remaining in the first half.
While the Pilots threw the first punch in the second half with an opening 10-2 run to cut the lead to 13. WSU immediately answered with a haymaker. A three-point ambush with treys from Watts, Calmese, and Kase Wynott delivered a dagger 18-3 run that gave WSU their largest lead of the game at 28.
The shooting splits eventually evened out as the game rolled into the second half. WSU shot a much calmer 48.1% from the field. It was the 10 turnovers from WSU in the second half that allowed the Pilots to eat into the deficit, scoring 13 of their 43 second-half points off Cougar miscues. Portland put together a 10-0 run late to get within 20 and would get as close as 12 with 1:01 left, but it was far too little and far too late.
Price set a season-high with 22 points, and Calmese tacked on 18 of his own.
Back at home, Kamie Ethridge’s squad also came out the gates firing. The Cougars raced out to a 20-5 lead in the game’s opening quarter with Jenna Villa coming off the bench and scoring 8 points in just five minutes. The second quarter wasn’t as friendly for the Cougs. Five turnovers and hitting just three of their 11 shots from the field gave an opening for the Waves to get back in the game, but they couldn’t find the bottom of the net either, also only hitting three shots on 13 attempts. The Waves finished the first half shooting just 14.8% from the field.
The third quarter is where WSU really found its groove. Freshman Charlotte Abraham went a perfect three for three from downtown, and Astera Tuhina delivered a pair of treys as well. The Cougars also controlled the paint with eight points down low with a bucket each from Tara Wallack, Ele Villa, Dayana Mendes, and Alex Covill. The third quarter dominance allowed WSU to reach a game-high 23-point lead before the fourth quarter, where the Cougars would cruise through the final 10 minutes of play to seal their second straight WCC win. Wallack, Abraham, and Jenna Villa all scored a team-high 12 points.
Both teams will again be in action on Monday night, with the men’s team hosting Loyola Marymount in Spokane and the women’s team traveling to Pacific.