Johanna Teder raced down the floor again in a footrace with the Ducks as the ball fell into her hands. She dribbled, sidestepped a defender who had barely managed to keep up and delivered the layup to put the Cougs up 16–13.

It was her third shot in about 48 seconds and her second straight fastbreak as she made a three, ran down the court to receive a deep pass for her first layup after an Oregon miss and once again sprinted directly beneath the basket to receive another deep pass and layup following a Duck turnover.

Thanks to her hustle and the team’s dedicated defense, led by Charlisse Leger-Walker and Astera Tuhina, the Cougs and Teder herself put together a 7–0 run to jumpstart the Cougar attack in the opening minute of the second quarter.

“We got really good stops. I was just running and I was the one who got the layups and my teammates fed me so yeah, I was gassed after that. It was like 45 seconds and I’m glad there was a timeout after that,” Teder said.

After trailing early, WSU women’s basketball (17-9, 7-8 Pac-12) beat the Oregon Ducks (14-12, 5-10 Pac-12), 64–57.

It was the Cougar’s first sweep of the Ducks in 22 years after they beat them Jan. 15, in Eugene for the first time since 2017, 85–84 (OT).

While Teder delivered the dominant 7–0 scoring streak that allowed the Cougars to take the lead and hold onto it for good, it was Bella Murekatete who was the star of the show, pacing the Cougars in scoring (17 points on 8-for-15) and rebounding (seven) while crossing a significant career milestone.

The senior center went on a 6–0 run of her own versus the Ducks to score her 1,000th career point. She is the 22nd Coug in program history to score 1,000 career points at WSU and joins Leger-Walker as the two to do so this season.

“It’s just an awesome feeling honestly to be able to accomplish something like this, especially accomplish it with literally your sisters,” Murekatete said. “We went from being random people all over the world to be teammates, literally be sisters. We are like so close and I’m just thankful enough that I was able to celebrate it with my sisters.”

Murekatete walked into the post-game presser still damp from the celebratory water cooler shower her teammates gave her in the locker room.

“They just poured water all over me and it was very, very cold. I usually say that I’m allergic to cold water,” Murekatete said through a bright smile that is so familiar to her teammates.

Leger-Walker entered the night 4 points away from her own pieces of history. Her 11 points propelled her to 1,340 career points and alone in 10th place on WSU’s all-time scoring list. She is 24 points behind Chanelle Molina (2016–20) for the ninth most points in program history.

25 seconds into the game, senior Ula Motuga got the party started for the Cougs in her second-to-last game at Beasley Coliseum with a successful 3-point shot from the right corner.

The quick three was especially significant as she had some surprise visitors in the stands.

Motuga’s family surprised her Friday night as they traveled all the way from Australia for her final two home games in her college career. They succeeded in surprising Motuga, who wiped her tears of joy with her jersey before posing for an incredibly sweet family photo.

Following Motuga’s make, the first quarter took a turn for the worse.

Missed shots, turnovers and sloppy ball handling plagued the Cougs as they faced a 13–9 deficit after 10 minutes of play.

After Teder turned up the volume with an emphatic 7–0 run, the Cougars took the lead and never conceded it.

Tuhina stepped up yet again for the Cougs as she scored 9 points (4-for-7) with five rebounds and two assists. She had the best + / – on the night at +8. Teder was close behind with +7.

Ethridge said the team values and needs Tuhina to embrace her role as co-director of the Cougar offense alongside Leger-Walker, one of the best players in college basketball.

“I think sometimes he thinks she’s taken a backseat. And we got to get her to understand and we’re talking to her a lot, like it needs to be a little Dynamic Duo for the two of them,” Ethridge said. “I think it’s a great situation when AT [Tuhina] can take the ball out of Charlisse’s hands and Charlisse can rest for one second and not have to do everything. AT is our best next-best ball handler and is really good at getting us into stuff.”

In the second quarter, Tuhina tapped the ball loose from her opponent, sprinted down the court and delivered the fast break layup to put the Cougs up by 8, 30–22.

Wazzu scored 38 points in the paint and scored 18 points off of turnovers.

Last time out, the Cougs and Ducks were engaged in quite the shootout which ended in an 85–84 overtime victory.

Leger-Walker, who had already allowed Endyia Rogers to score 33 points last time out in Eugene, Oregon, contained the star Oregon guard to 17 points on an entirely decent 7-for-17 night.

Rogers scoring just a point above her season average (16.2 points per game, fourth-best in the Pac-12 Conference) was exactly what the Cougars needed, especially when the Ducks held Leger-Walker (the third-best shooter in the Pac-12 at 18.8 points per game) to 11 points.

Ethridge said Leger-Walker’s quickness and strength help her effectively guard some of the best players in the country.

“Endyia is fantastic. She’s awesome. She’s one of the best and her numbers prove it. She’s one of the best players in the country. So again, a good team effort but it started with you know, Charlisse really wanting that assignment and obviously committed to doing whatever she could to make the night, you know, difficult,” Ethridge said.

The Cougs will celebrate Senior Day by honoring three players who helped elevate Ethridge’s program into a revered NCAA tournament contender.

WSU will recognize Ula Motuga, Grace Sarver and Emma Nankervis prior to their final home game of the season against Oregon State at noon Sunday at Beasley Coliseum.