Washington State tops No. 19 UCLA 65-61 for Pac-12 title

“I’d have by no means thought we might do it,” fifth-year coach Kamie Ethridge stated. “I do not even assume once I took the job I assumed this was attainable in this type of a league.”

Washington State gained 4 video games in 5 days, beating No. 10 seed California, No. 2 seed Utah, No. 3 seed Colorado and eventually UCLA.

Leger-Walker carried them to the championship.

“By no means would have thought we’d be doing that,” she stated of chopping down the web after successful the title. “That second simply felt so surreal.”

It had been a tough season for the New Zealand native, who went dwelling twice through the season. As soon as to see her grandmother, Mere Smith, when she grew to become ailing, and a second time for Smith’s funeral.

On Sunday, Leger-Walker honored her grandmother.

“This entire match, I believe, my Nana’s been trying over me,” she stated. “This one was positively for her and for my household again dwelling.”

It was the first-ever Pac-12 championship for Washington State in a girls’s sport. Will probably be the Cougars’ third straight look within the NCAA Match.

Up by three with 9 seconds left, Washington State’s Astera Tuhina obtained a chunk of a 3-point try by UCLA’s Charisma Osborne. With the arrow pointing their method, the Cougars took possession after a held ball on the rebound, and Tara Wallack hit one among two free throws with 5.1 seconds left to provide Washington State a four-point lead.

Tuhina had six assists and Wallack added eight rebounds for the Cougars (23-10).

Whereas it’s been gamers like Leger-Walker and Murekatete grabbing the headlines, Tuhina’s teammates praised her maturity and poise as a freshman.

“We’ve been saying because the first time she stepped on the campus, Astera shouldn’t be a freshman,” Murekatete stated. “She has the expertise, she has the IQ — the whole lot about AT — she has an awesome feeling for the sport. I’m simply so blessed and grateful to have her on the workforce.

“Her poise, how she reads the protection, how she’s so good at offense actually helped us with each single factor we wanted within the final second,” Murekatete added.

Osborne led the Bruins (25-9) with 19 factors. Kiki Rice scored 13 factors and Emily Bessoir added 11 for UCLA.

“I believe we positively might have executed higher setting new screens, play with tempo, play with tempo,” Rice stated. “I believe it’s extra on us with the ability to execute our offense and get the appears to be like that we wish to get.”

Washington State shot 22 of 41 (53.7%) from the ground, together with 7 of 11 (63.6%) from 3-point vary. The Cougars had been essentially the most environment friendly workforce within the match, capturing 46.2% (92 of 199).

UCLA got here in because the highest-scoring workforce within the match, averaging 74.3 factors on 38.5% capturing after three video games, however struggled to seek out any rhythm from the opening tip, suffocated by the match’s No. 1 scoring protection. The Bruins completed 22 of 60 (36.7%) from the ground and 26.3% (5 of 19) from 3-point vary.

Although they held a four-point lead after one quarter, the Bruins had been chilly from the outset. They hit simply 35% (7 of 20) within the first quarter, together with 1 of 6 (16.7%) from 3-point vary, and adopted that with a 30.8% clip (4 of 13) within the second interval.

MORE CHARLISSE

Leger-Walker set the match file with 76 factors. She reached double figures in every sport, scoring 23, 15, 15 and 23 factors. Her 11 3-pointers tied for the sixth most made in a single match.

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM

Becoming a member of Leger-Walker on the All-Match workforce had been Murekatete, Rice and Osborne, together with Emily Bessoir (UCLA) and Cameron Brink (Stanford).

BIG PICTURE

Washington State: The Cougars had been the primary No. 7 seed to advance to the Pac-12 championship sport. The earlier lowest seed to make the championship spherical was the No. 6 seed, in 2009 (USC) and 2022 (Utah).

UCLA: After being held to simply two factors within the first half, on 1-of-6 capturing, Rice bolstered the Bruins’ 8-0 begin to the third quarter with 5 factors. Within the second half, the freshman guard hit 4 of 10 from the sphere.

UP NEXT

The groups await their NCAA Match seeding, with UCLA certain to obtain an at-large bid.

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AP girls’s school basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25