No. 23 Washington State Prevails over UMass in Convincing Fashion

WASHINGTON STATE 90, UMASS 48

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MX — No. 23 Washington State Cougars improve to 7-0 on the year and 2-0 in Cancun Challenge play after defeating UMass 90-48 on Friday.

Coming off her first triple double of her career, Charlisse Leger-Walker finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes of action.   Eleonora Villa had a team-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field.  Bella Murekatete finished with 13 points and four rebounds in just 16 minutes of play.

UMass junior guard Stefanie Kulesza led all scorers with 20 points and pulled down 11 boards.  Kristin Williams chipped in eight points and Bre Bellamy finished with six.

The Cougars trailed early in the game 9-6 with 5:28 left in the first before going on an 18-0 run to finish the quarter.  WSU would increase that lead in the second quarter and went into halftime up 48-24.  It was the same story for the Cougars in the third quarter starting on a 12-4 run and leading by as much as 44 in the fourth quarter.

WSU dominated the paint outscoring UMass 44-16 and scored 23 points off 16 Minutewomen turnovers.  The Cougs also dominated the glass outrebounding UMass 42-28.

It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs. WSU was voted to the Preseason Associated Press Top-25 Poll for the first time in program history and has since moved up two spots.

The Cougs will next face a tough Green Bay team (3-1) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET which will be the final game of the 2023 Cancun Challenge.   UMass will take on Maryland at 11 a.m. ET. Both games will be streamed live on FloHoops.

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