Dec. 28—PULLMAN — After struggling through a miserable nonconference schedule, Washington State’s women’s basketball team turned a new leaf to open conference play.
The Cougars picked up their first win in a month, beating Pepperdine 66-63 on Sunday at Beasley Coliseum in their first West Coast Conference game.
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WSU (2-12, 1-0 WCC) went up 49-39 early in the fourth quarter on a hot-shooting spurt that included 3-pointers from Malia Ruud, Eleonora Villa and Charlotte Abraham.
The Waves (9-4, 0-1) made things interesting late, cutting their deficit to two points in the final minute, but the Cougars preserved the lead with a couple of clutch baskets and foul shots.
Villa tallied 17 points and Abraham added 16 and 10 rebounds for WSU, which shot 38.8% from the field and 8 of 22 (36.4%) on 3s.
The Cougars had 12 offensive rebounds and committed a season-low nine turnovers.
Elli Guiney scored 26 points, hitting six 3s, for the Waves.
