The Cougars’ season is over. Senior forward Tara Wallack was limited to just five points in her final game as WSU lost to North Dakota State Thursday on the road, 59-51.
After a thrilling nail-biter victory against Utah Valley in the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament, spirits were high, with an exciting finish and a season-best crowd for the final home game of the season for the Cougs and Wallack’s final appearance at Beasley Coliseum.
Thursday would bring the opposite tone as the Bison tested the Cougs’ patience and played WSU with physicality. WSU would struggle to score as it did against Utah Valley, but would fail to bring the burst in energy or increased intensity needed to pull through and overcome the challenge.
After an initial 4-4 tie, WSU would lag behind NDSU for the rest of the first quarter as the Bison proceeded to go on a 12-0 run amidst a seven-minute WSU scoring drought that only saw the bleeding stop when guard Eleonora Villa scored five points in the last 30 seconds of the quarter. The Cougs went 4-of-14 from the field in the first quarter while shooting just 1-of-6 from three.
WSU caught a break in the second quarter as NDSU experienced the Cougs’ scoring woes, going on a six-minute scoring drought of its own. Guard Abby Schulte scored the first basket of the quarter 20 seconds in, but the Bison did not score again until guard Marisa Frost ended the Cougs’ 11-0 run to tie the game at 20. Back-to-back NDSU threes closed out the half and gave the Bison a slim 26-24 lead.
Guard Eleonora Villa and center Alex Covill were big reasons for the Cougs’ comeback in the second quarter and kept the team afloat despite its shooting struggles. Villa scored 10 of her 14 points in the first half while Covill scored eight of her 14. Covill started in place of All-West Coast Conference freshman Dayana Mendes, who entered the transfer portal Wednesday.
The game remained closely contested throughout the third quarter, with the Bison holding the biggest lead of five just over halfway through the quarter. Villa and Covill continued to lead the WSU offense by scoring the team’s first six points, but the scoring distribution would even out the rest of the way. After a Frost three that brought back the Bison lead, a paint bucket by center Candace Kpetikou would knot the score at 38 heading into the fourth.
After scoring the first four points of the quarter and building a six-point lead with seven minutes to go, WSU would endure another scoring drought at the wrong time. The Cougs would not score again until the final minute and by that point, it was too little to (too) – JP late.
The Bison went on a massive 17-0 run to dominate most of the quarter, led by forwards Avery Koenen and Abbie Draper. Koenen scored eight of her game-high 19 points in the final frame while Draper added six points of her own during the seven-minute run.
NDSU’s offensive success did not come without a stout defensive performance. The Cougs shot 5-for-15 from the field in the quarter and 38.2% in the game. WSU also shot 1-of-7 from three and 5-of-20 overall.
The Bison forced 15 WSU turnovers despite only generating five combined steals and blocks. It was the Bison’s physicality and paint dominance that caused problems for the offense, forcing the Cougs to make tough shots and putting them out of ideal positions.
NDSU outrebounded WSU 42-35 and doubled its offensive rebounds. Despite going perfect from the field, the Bison limited Covill to six shots in the game and two in the second half.
“It was a physical game inside and there was a lot of hand checking going on and we couldn’t get the ball back to Alex,” WSU head coach Kamie Ethridge said. “We came back to Alex in the fourth quarter and just lost a little steam.”
Ethridge said Covill came to the bench during the game. Covill said she could not get to the ball because multiple NDSU players were holding her hands down and the team could not take advantage of paint positioning the same way they did in the first half.
Even with the Cougs offensive struggles inside, the team still showed life on the other end, hosting a block party with 13 blocks, one shy of a season high. Defensive versatility continues to be a strength for the Cougs, but the Bison’s postgame and rebounding advantage proved to be too overwhelming.
Wallack, whose four points matched her second-lowest scoring total of the season, said NDSU schemed well and had the moves to outmaneuver a talent shot-blocking team like WSU.
The Cougs’ usual leaders did find other ways to contribute as Wallack recorded a season-high five blocks while guard Astera Tuhina grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.
WSU closed its season with a rough outing and one win shy of Ethridge’s 200th as head coach, but Wallack’s 36 minutes made her the first in program history to reach 4,000 minutes played. Wallack was quiet and tearful after the game but expressed gratitude for the season and her career.
“I’ve improved and each year I just focused on one thing and tried to get better at that,” Wallack said. “Then also just my leadership, I never was in the position in years before this, to be a leader on the team. So I’m happy I stepped up into that role and was challenged but I think it was a pretty good year. I’m happy to end my college career like this.”
