EUGENE, Ore. – Washington State University dropped a 65-60 Pac-12 Conference contest to the University of Oregon at Matthew Knight Arena Sunday.
Freshman guard Lia Galdeira scored 19 points for Washington State (10-15, 6-8 Pac-12) who also received 11 points and six boards from freshman forward Mariah Cooks. Junior forward Sage Romberg added eight points and seven rebounds. Oregon (4-22, 2-12 Pac-12) held the Cougars to 29.5 percent shooting, posted a 55-47 rebound advantage and knocked down seven threes.
Both teams struggled shooting in the first half as the Cougars were held to 17.1 percent from the floor in the first half, its lowest percentage in any half in the season. WSU held the Ducks to 29.7 percent shooting but trailed at the half, 28-15 after Oregon produced a 12-2 run midway through the half.
Galdeira led the Cougars with six points after turning a pair of steals into layups. Oregon closed the half with a 6-0 spurt.
Washington State opened the second half with a couple layups by freshman guard Dawnyelle Awa and redshirt-senior Katie Grad. Cooks and freshman guard Alexas Williamson provided a couple sparks as the Cougars got within single-digits after Williamson hit two threes and Cooks tallied all 11 of her points during WSU's second-half rally.
Minutes later, Galdeira caught fire to cut the Oregon lead to five with 3:01 remaining after a pair of driving layups. The Ducks added a couple free throws before another late surge by the Cougars made things interesting. Romberg scored on a rebound putback, Galdeira hit a three from the left wing and freshman guard Taylor Edmondson added her own rebound putback to make it a two-point game with 15 seconds left.
Oregon then knocked down a pair of free throws to go back up four and a Romberg three rimmed out allowing Oregon to seal the game up with another free throw.
Oregon shot 31.8 percent and had three players score in double figures.
Washington State hits the road again next weekend, facing the University of Colorado, Friday and the University of Utah next Sunday.
