WSU women’s basketball began their Thanksgiving break in Hawaii when they brought home some hardware after winning the 2022 North Shore Showcase.

However, all was not well in paradise for the Cougs as they experienced their first loss of the season to the showcase host, BYU Cougars, 65-56.

BYU loss, 65-56

The Cougs’ loss to the other Cougs saw little go right for WSU. 

Only two players scored in double digits. Charlisse Leger-Walker saw her excellent 25-points-per-game average dip with a nonetheless solid 21-point performance, slightly soured by 50% shooting from the field and four missed three-point shots.

Johanna Teder turned in a solid 12-point performance and also hit exactly half of her shots, each of which were three-point attempts.

Bella Murekatete shot a measly 2-8 from the field being contained to just 6 points.

The Cougs allowed three opposing players to score in the double digits and five players to score at least seven.

WSU was down by as much as 20 in the fourth quarter but battled back to make it a single-digit deficit. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late by the team the clock hit zero.

Troy win, 87-72

WSU appeared much more motivated in its Nov. 21 beatdown of the Troy Trojans.

The Cougs beat Troy 87-72, attaining their pre-season per-game goals once again.

Five Cougs scored in double digits. Murekatete scored a career-high tying 22 points, which she initially achieved  Nov. 9, 2021, against San Jose State and snagged another career-high-tying 16 rebounds, a feat she initially achieved Jan. 17, 2021, against UCLA.

Leger-Walker saw her performance waver a bit by missing eight of her shots in a 3-of-11 shooting day. However, she hit 7-of-10 from the free-throw line, snagged nine rebounds and dished out six assists.

Her performance earned her the title of 2022 North Shore Showcase MVP.

Murekatete was named to the showcase’s All-Star team for her performance.

Freshman Astera Tuhina scored a career-high 14 points. Five games into her college career, she is already turning heads.

Tara Wallack put up 17 points and got eight rebounds and Teder shot 2-for-10 and 1-for-7 from deep but nonetheless put up 12 points thanks to her 7-of-8 shooting from the free throw line.

“I just loved the competitiveness and the toughness that we showed after coming off a disappointing loss to Brigham Young. It was like a brand-new team today,” head coach Kamie Ethridge said.

The Cougs return to Pullman for a 7 p.m. game, Monday with South Dakota State at Beasley Coliseum. The game will be live-streamed on Pac-12 plus and on the WSU Athletics website.