Great Things Happening for Cougar Swimming
(Note: Stories in this report from WSU Sports Info may include slight editing/rewriting from News for CougGroup Central.)
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – The Washington State swim team had an outstanding showing at the final day of the 2019 Pac-12 Championships. The Cougars posted seven WSU Top-10 Times and garnered an NCAA qualifier, says WSU Sports Info
Sophomore Mackenzie Duarte dominated in the preliminary round of the 200 breast, earning a spot at the NCAA Championships and breaking the previous school record set in 2015 by two seconds.
Duarte, from Walnut Creek, Calif., won her heat with a time of 2:09.47, seeding her second in the A-final. The sophomore breaststroker finished the championships in seventh place – the highest placing for a Cougar at the Pac-12 Championships.
Freshman Lauren Burckel hit a lifetime best in the 200 breast during the preliminary round, clocking a seventh-fastest time in program history at 2:14.24. Burckel then turned around and clocked a 2:12.51 in the finals to move her up to third all-time. The Albuquerque, N.M. native's time earned her a chance at the post-season, as it was one second under an NCAA B Cut time.
Sophomore Chloe Larson clocked a lifetime best in the preliminary round of the 100 free, touching the wall in 50.04 for seventh fastest in program history and securing a spot in the finals. In the finals, Larson clocked a 49.95, moving her up to sixth in program history.
Junior Ryan Falk and sophomore Samantha Howell each etched their names in the Top-10 of the 1650 and 1000 free. Falk dominated in her heat of the mile, coming from behind to clocked a 16:37.56 for the third-fastest time in program history.
The Illinois native's (born in Illinois, moved to Oregon) 10:06.74 in the 1000 portion of the event, earned her the fourth-fastest time in program history. Howell, a Austin, Texas native, clocked the tenth-fastest time in program history in the 1650 free at 16:58.90, her 10:13.24 in the 1000 free portion is seventh fastest in program history.
Senior Linnea Lindberg completed her Pac-12 career leaving it all in the pool in the 200 breast, clocking a 2:24.09.
The Cougars will have one more chance at the post-season Sunday, Mar. 3 at the Pac-12 Last Chance Invite. The meet is set to begin 9:30 a.m.
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MEN BASKETBALL
Next two WSU men’s hoops on Friel Court in Beasley Coliseum on the WSU campus in Pullman:
--March 6 at 8pm vs. Oregon
--March 9 at noon vs Oregon State
Cal capitalizes on 20 Washington State turnovers in 76-69 win at Haas Pavilion
UPDATED: Sat., March 2, 2019, 9:51 p.m
By Theo Lawson, Spokane S-R
At Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, California
GOLDEN BEARS76 COUGARS 69
➤Wednesday, March 6: Oregon Ducks at Washington State Cougars, 8 p.m. PST TV: FS1
BERKELEY, Calif. – Only taking margin of defeat into consideration, Washington State’s 48-point loss to Stanford earlier in the week still goes down as the most humiliating of the Cougars’ 2018-19 season.
But if other metrics and various advanced rankings are taken into account, Thursday’s dud at Maples Pavilion might have some company now.
WSU made a late push to avoid losing to the worst team in the Pac-12 – and arguably the worst in college basketball at the Power Five level – but buried underneath a pile of their own mistakes, the shorthanded Cougars suffered another embarrassing defeat in the Bay Area, falling 76-69 to California at Haas Pavilion.
The margin of defeat looks minor when placed next to the near 50-point thumping Stanford put on WSU two days earlier. But Cal was an opponent that looked infinitely more beatable, at least on paper.
The Golden Bears entered the game with a NET ranking that was 62 spots lower than the next-best Power Five team and a KenPom ranking that was 56 spots lower than WSU’s.
Not to mention the Cougars had flattened the same Cal team 82-59 more than a month earlier at Beasley Coliseum.
But whatever life the Golden Bears got from upsetting first-place Washington two days earlier seemed to carry over, while the Cougars still looked drained from the biggest loss of the Ernie Kent regime. It didn’t help they were still playing with a three-man bench because of concussions to forward Jeff Pollard and guards Viont’e Daniels and Carter Skaggs.
Robert Franks gave WSU an early lift, but the Pac-12’s top scorer had just six points in the second half after a 12-point first. CJ Elleby, playing at Haas Pavilion for the first time since his father Billplayed for Cal more than two decades earlier, led all scorers with 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
But Franks and Elleby were also responsible for seven turnovers – less than half of WSU’s team total.
“Too many mistakes, we left too many points on the floor,” Kent said. “If you give a team 30 points off your turnovers, you shouldn’t even be in the game. Yet there were a couple times we were right there to turn the tide of the game, turn the momentum and we didn’t do it with our turnovers.”
The Cougars bounced basketballs off their feet, threw errant passes right into Cal’s white jerseys and fumbled the same passes their opponents were fielding cleanly.
Five WSU players had at least three turnovers, and the Cougars finished with 20 compared to 11 for Cal. The Golden Bears scored 30 points off turnovers, while the Cougars managed only six.
“A little careless then we just weren’t being aggressive enough,” Elleby said, “and not making enough plays for each other.”
Cal led from start to finish and extended the lead to as many as 15 points with about 10 minutes to play in the second half. But WSU’s attention to detail on the defensive end – coupled with some timely 3-point shooting – allowed the Cougars to climb back into the game.
“We wanted to get out in transition a little more. We felt like we weren’t playing as fast as we could,” Elleby said. “We were kind of just sitting in the half court and we’re more of a transition team. We’re at our best when we’re running up and down and playing in transition. So we wanted get back to that.”
Marvin Cannon had a chance to make it a four-point game with 6:06 left after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt, but the Pac-12’s most accurate free-throw shooter only made 1 of 3 attempts, and Cal’s Darius McNeill connected on a 3 to give the Bears a nine-point cushion.
Franks followed with a 3-pointer, but the Cougars couldn’t get a stop on the other end and Cal flirted with a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
McNeill finished with 17 points for Cal, Paris Austin added 12, and Justice Sueing and Connor Vanover each had 10.
“Cal, they played well, but I think a lot of it was just us,” WSU guard Jervae Robinson said. “A lot of internal errors that we had just taking care of the ball. That was the biggest thing tonight.”
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WOMEN BASKETBALL
WSU WBB: Offense Falls Short Against No. 7 Stanford
From WSU Sports Info 3/1/2019
== > The Cougars close out the regular season Sunday, March 3, when they host Cal for senior day at noon. The game will mark the first of two-straight games against the Golden Bears as the two teams are locked into their 7/10 seeds for the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.
COUGAR OFFENSE FALLS SHORT AGAINST NO. 7 STANFORD
PULLMAN- On a night the Cougars big three did not have their A-games, Washington State (9-19, 4-13) struggled to keep pace with No. 7 Stanford (24-4, 14-3) as the Cardinal pulled away fo a 67-42 win Friday night at Beasley Coliseum. While Cougar vets struggled, the freshmen did all they could to keep the Cougs within reach of the Cardinal led by the efforts of Ula Motuga who scored a team-high 10 points. Motuga got the ball rolling for WSU early, scoring the first five points of the game as the Cougars took an early lead on Stanford, 7-3. Despite the quick start, the Cougars could not hold back the on rush of the Cardinal as Stanford put together a 14-2 run midway late in the opening frame to break open the contest early and never look back. Stanford would push its lead to 15 at the break as WSU was held to just seven points in the second quarter. The Cougars would get no closer than the 15-point margin at the halftime break as the Cardinal used a 7-0 run to end the third to push the lead over 20 points heading into the final frame before outscoring WSU, 12-10, in the games final 10 minutes to seal the victory and take control of second place overall in the Pac-12 standings with just one game to play.
WSU Coach Kamie Ethridge quote:
"It's a tough game, obviously disappointing with our offensive output. I feel like I say it every game though, when we do succeed we generally have a really high shooting percentage from Chanelle Molina. I think she is the key often times to our game and I think the weight of the world is on her because we basically only have one ball handler on the court and she's it. You're asking her to carry a really heavy load, to handle the ball on every possession and we need her to make every shot. That's the reality."
•The Cougs dropped both halves of the season series to the Cardinal who moved into sole possession of second place in the Pac-12 with the victory. Stanford improved to 65-0 against the Cougars all-time.
•Ula Motuga was the lone Cougar to reach double-figures in the contest as the Aussie freshman scored 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting. The 10 points marked the third double-digit game of the season for Motuga.
•Freshman Shir Levy finished the game with eight points while Chanelle Molina scored seven to go with a team-high six rebounds and three assists. Borislava Hristova was held to a season-low five points on just 2-of-7 shooting.
•WSU was without senior center Maria Kostourkova who missed her first-career game as a late scratch. She had played in 123 consecutive games prior to tonight.
•Stanford put three in double-figures with Dijonai Carrington scoring 19 points to go with eight rebounds and five assist. All-American Alanna Smith came up with the double-double with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while Kiana Williams added 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
•The Cougars close out the regular season Sunday, March 3, when they host Cal for senior day at noon. The game will mark the first of two-straight games against the Golden Bears as the two teams are locked into their 7/10 seeds for the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament in Vegas.
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