After suffering its fourth-consecutive loss Friday night against No. 10 Stanford, the WSU women’s baksetball team got back in the win column with a come-from-behind win over the California Golden Bears on Sunday.

Stanford

Playing shorthanded, the Cougars could not keep pace with the 10th-ranked Stanford Cardinal in a 76-54 loss.

WSU noticeably struggled playing for the third-consecutive game without its three leading scorers; freshman guard Chanelle Molina (torn ACL), sophomore forward Borislava Hristova (broken foot) and junior forward Louise Brown (broken foot) are not expected to return this season.

“We have got to continue to play hard and keep getting better, because it doesn’t get any easier,” WSU Head Coach June Daugherty said.

Stanford controlled the game from the opening tip and used its highly-powered offense to roll to its fifth-straight win. Stanford nearly doubled the Cougars’ score at the half, leading 41-24 after the game’s first 20 minutes.

Coming out of the half, the Cougars suffered from a scoring drought early in the third quarter. They went without a basket for more than five minutes and trailed by 27 points heading into the final frame.

The Cougars shot a dismal 29 percent from the floor, as Stanford’s 22nd-ranked scoring defense smothered the team’s shooters all game long. To compound the lack of offensive production, WSU shot just 50 percent from the free throw line.

“It was definitely a tough night, because we missed a lot of shots,” junior guard Pinelopi Pavlopoulou said, “but the good thing was that the shots we took were good.”

Pavlopoulou was one of the few offensive bright spots for the Cougars, as she racked up 13 points to go with her four steals.

Daugherty said the Cougars improved efforts on the defensive end since the team’s previous 87-44 loss to No. 8 Washington on Jan. 22

“For the most part, with how much Stanford counts on their transition offense, I thought that we played the scout pretty well and forced them to play against a half-court defense,” Daugherty said.

Despite the positive strides taken on defense, WSU suffered from an inability to find an offensive rhythm and was dominated on the glass. Stanford out-rebounded the Cougars 48-32, and the Cardinal’s 12 offensive rebounds led to 16 second-chance points.

Stanford also racked up 36 points inside the paint and its offense was led by senior guard Karlie Samuelson’s 16-point, seven-rebound and four-assist effort.

California

In a game that saw the lead change hands 20 times, WSU eked out an 84-79 victory over the Golden Bears on Sunday.

Daugherty said she told her team before the game to keep it simple and be aggressive, a message that was evident in the team’s offensive and defensive approach.

The Cougars started the game with lots of intensity, jumping out to an early 6-0 lead on a series of steals and forced turnovers. WSU used its pressure defense to generate points all game long, as the Cougars netted 26 points off of 24 turnovers.

Still working to find consistency on offense, WSU struggled at times shooting from the outside, converting just 19 percent of its three-point attempts and turned the ball over 17 times.

Despite suffering from a size disadvantage, WSU netted 46 points in the paint and played a physical game down low. After being out-rebounded in its previous four losses, the Cougars grabbed 17 offensive rebounds that led to 17 second-chance points, two of which came on a critical play in the fourth quarter.

With less than two minutes remaining, junior guard Caila Hailey worked her way through two California post players to grab an offensive rebound and converted a put back layup while drawing a foul. After sinking the and-one free throw, the Cougars upped their lead to five and sealed the game’s final margin of victory.

Seeing more minutes, redshirt sophomore forward Nike McClure fueled the Cougars’ improved effort on both ends, scoring 10 points to compliment four rebounds and four steals. McClure was also tasked with guarding California sophomore forward Kristine Anigwe, who entered Sunday’s game as the country’s ninth-leading scorer.

Anigwe led all scorers with 32 points on 13-19 shooting and was a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe.

“If we hadn’t doubled-down on her and practiced that all week, she probably would have gone for 60,” McClure said.

Daugherty said the Cougars simply had to focus on limiting Anigwe’s offensive production in order to win the game.

“I don’t think anybody is ever going to stop her,” Daugherty said. “She’s that talented.

The win moves WSU to 9-12 overall and 4-6 in conference play, and the team overtook Cal (15-7, 3-7) for seventh place in the Pac-12.

WSU next takes on Colorado (12-9, 2-8) on Friday in Boulder.