SportsJanuary 15, 2023

Washington State senior post Bella Murekatete, right, shoots as Oregon's Phillipina Kyei during Sunday's Pac-12 Conference game at Matthew Knight Arena.
Washington State senior post Bella Murekatete, right, shoots as Oregon's Phillipina Kyei during Sunday's Pac-12 Conference game at Matthew Knight Arena.WSU Athletics

EUGENE, Ore. — Revenge is a dish best served cold. Washington State's women found that out Sunday.

For almost one year, the Cougars had to sit with the bitter taste of an epic drubbing at the hands of Oregon in a Feb. 9, 2022, home game. The Ducks handed them an epic 83-30 beatdown in which Oregon handed Washington State one of its worst losses in program history.

Now, revenge is oh-so-sweet.

Senior forward Ula Motuga's layup with 4:13 left in overtime gave the Cougars the lead for good, then they held on to upend the 21st-ranked Ducks 85-84 in a Pac-12 Conference game before 6,900 at Matthew Knight Arena.

"Every game is big," WSU coach Kamie Ethridge said. "The fact that we started 0-3 and didn't know how we would respond to that, so to come back and be 3-3 now, road wins are huge. It's a big statement for our program and where we are, and the expectation now. I think our standard is that we want to beat anyone that we play. We put a weekend together that was worthy of wins. We played for those wins. We earned those wins."

Senior post Bella Murekatete had 20 points and seven rebounds before fouling out as time expired in regulation for the Cougars (13-4, 3-3), who earned their first win in the series since the 2017-18 season. Junior guard Charlisse Leger-Walker tallied 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists despite shooting 4-of-17. Senior guard Johanna Teder had 15 points and six rebounds. Motuga finished with 14 points, 10 reebounds and two blocked shots. Junior center Jessica Clarke contributed a career-high 14 points, including six of Washington State's nine points in the overtime.

"People can't just sit on Charlisse anymore, because other people will hurt them," Ethridge said. "I think development of and growing our team, and getting us a little bit more versatile, and not just winning one way, I think we're winning in different fashions now, against different styles, and I think probably the reason for that is how good defensively we've become, and how committed we are to rebounding a little bit more, and every individual player on our team is really accountable and wants to become better for us to make our team better."

Endyia Rogers had 33 points, six rebounds and three steals for Oregon (13-5, 4-3), which had won eight consecutive games in the series. Chance Gray chipped in 22 points. Te-Hina Paopao had 11 points and seven rebounds. Grace VanSlooten tallied 10 points and six rebounds.

It's the first road win for the Cougars against a ranked team since a 64-61 victory Jan. 8, 1998, at No. 10 Arizona. It's also the third consecutive season, they've beaten a ranked team.

The game was backwards in almost every sense. Washington State held a 10-point lead in the first quarter before an absymal shooting second period put it down nine at halftime. The Cougars turned the ball over 18 times overall, the Ducks held an 18-9 edge in points off those turnovers. Washington State held a commanding 50-36 advantage in rebounding, but each team had 11 second-chance points. The Cougars flipped a 43-33 deficit with 6:03 left in the third quarter into a 71-57 lead with 4:16 to go in regulation thanks to a 19-for-27 (70.3%) effort from the field in third and fourth quarters. In fact, they had made 14 consecutive shots at one juncture.

The Washington State lead was 73-62 with 3:22 left after Murekatete hit a layup and seemingly the Cougars had things in hand. But that's what they thought.

Rogers hit a layup on Oregon's next possession, and Paopao canned a pair of free throws with 2:05 to go to bring the Ducks within seven. Gray was fouled with 46 seconds remaining, and she hit both free throws to make it a 73-68 Washington State lead.

Oregon was forced to foul, and the Ducks put Motuga on the line for the only time of the game with 34 seconds left for a six-point edge.

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However, Oregon showed a ton of fight on its next possession, missing three consecutive 3-point attempts before Gray finally converted from deep to make it 74-71 with eight seconds on the clock. The Cougars inbounded and Leger-Walker was fouled. She made the two free throws to knock the advantage back to five.

Oregon came right back down, with Rogers making a 3. On the inbounds, Rogers stole a bad pass from Teder and fed VanSlooten for a shot, but Murekatete committed her fifth foul on the play with 0.1 seconds to go. VanSlooten hit both free throws to force overtime tied at 76.

Each team scored on their first possession of the extra period, then Motuga put Washington State up for good. The game devulged into a free-throw shooting contest for the next couple of minutes, but Clarke backed down her defender and put up a baby hook with 1:21 left that made it 84-81. The Ducks had a pair of chances to tie, but turned it over each time. They fouled Leger-Walker, who made the second of two free throws with 25 seconds left for a four-point lead.

"It feels great to know that the team has my back, and I've been working my way back in," said Clarke, who has been dealing with injuries. "It feels great that the team has confidence in me."

Still, it wasn't done, because Paopao converted from distance with 19 seconds to go and an 85-84 Cougar lead. Washington State turned it over on its next trip down the floor, giving Oregon a game to win it, but Paopao's shot was off, and the Cougars survived.

Washington State next plays at 7 p.m. Friday at home against USC.

WASHINGTON STATE (13-4, 3-3)

Wallack 2-2 0-0 5, Leger-Walker 4-17 7-8 17, Motuga 6-10 1-2 14, Teder 6-15 0-0 15, Murekatete 10-16 0-0 20, Tuhina 0-1 0-0 0, Clarke 5-7 4-4 4, Sarver 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 33-70 12-14 85.

OREGON (13-5, 4-3)

Gray 7-17 3-3 22, Rogers 12-21 3-4 33, Paopao 3-12 4-5 11, VanSlooten 2-10 6-11 10, Hanson 0-5 2-2 2, Hurst 1-7 0-0 2, Hosendove 2-2 0-1 4. Totals 27-74 18-26 84.

Washington State 19 10 21 26 9—85

Oregon 14 24 13 25 8—84

3-point goals — Washington State 7-21 (Teder 3-8, Leger-Walker 2-7, Wallack 1-1, Motuga 1-4, Tuhina 0-1), Oregon 12-28 (Rogers 6-8, Gray 5-9, Paopao 1-3, Hanson 0-4, Hurst 0-4). Fouled out — Murekatete. Rebounds — Washington State 50 (Motuga 10), Oregon 36 (Paopao 7). Assists — Washington State 20 (Leger-Walker 6), Oregon 13 (Hosendove 4). Total fouls — Washington State 19, Oregon 14. A — 6,900.

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