WSU women’s basketball won its final game of the Gulf Coast Showcase against Rutgers University on Sunday to finish fifth in the tournament. WSU trailed by as many as 14 points in the second quarter, but came back for a 63-60 victory.

Redshirt sophomore forward Borislava Hristova led the Cougars (3-4) with 17 points after connecting on seven of her 16 shots.

Rutgers surrendered the first-half lead with 2:56 left to play in the third quarter following a three-pointer by WSU senior guard Pinelopi Pavlopoulou. The Scarlet Knights shot 26.9 percent in the second half.

“For whatever reason, we were missing shots and we weren’t communicating,” Rutgers Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer said. “It wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if we hadn’t expended so much energy in the press, and allow all of those three’s in between.”

WSU completed 10 three-point shots on 19 attempts. Redshirt junior forward Louise Brown scored nine points from behind the three-point line. Pavlopoulou made two three-pointers and junior guard Alexys Swedlund tallied four.

Rutgers reclaimed the lead with 7:22 left in the game after a jump shot by redshirt senior guard Tyler Scaife.

With 2:25 left to play, WSU redshirt junior forward Nike McClure grabbed an offensive rebound and passed to senior guard Caila Hailey for a layup to give the Cougars a 61-59 lead.

Rutgers had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds, but Hailey drew a charge with six seconds remaining.

On Saturday, the Cougars had four players reach double-digit scoring in an 80-76 win over East Tennessee State. Leading the production was Hristova with 20 points, hitting six of her 14 shots and eight free throws.

She made five of six shots in the second-half after making one of eight in the first half.

WSU led at halftime with a score of 37-34, after ETSU senior guard Tianna Tarter and junior forward Britney Snowden both scored nine points.

Junior guard Alexys Swedlund was the second Cougar in double-digit scoring with 15 points — 12 of which came from three-point range. Swedlund made four of her 12 deep shots. Pavlopoulou scored 11 points, nine of which came on three-pointers. The game was tied at the start of the final quarter after Tarter made a three-point shot.

WSU sophomore guard Chanelle Molina also had 11 points in the contest. She made all six of her shots in the last minute of the game to help hold off the Bucs.

The team lost its opening game of the Gulf Coast Showcase to No. 17 University of South Florida by a final score of 82-45. The Cougars did not score a single point in the first quarter and had five turnovers. They trailed by 19 points heading into the second quarter.

At the end of the first half, WSU trailed 35-8. SFU junior guard Kitija Laksa led the Bulls with 13 first-half points. She finished the game as the leading scorer with 23 points.

WSU scored 37 points after halftime to raise its point total to 45 with Brown leading the team in scoring. She had nine points in the game after making a three-point shot and hitting both attempted free throws. Hristova scored eight points after making three of 13 total shots.

Idaho State University visits Pullman for a 7 p.m. tipoff Friday in Beasley Coliseum.