The Washington State Women’s Basketball team left Hawaii, posting a 1-2 record in the Rainbow Wahine Classic.

“We had three tough games in three days,” said Head Coach June Daugherty after the tournament. “I thought that we played pretty well against West Virginia and then we built on that with the win against Ole Miss.”

The Cougars (2-3, 0-0) downed the Rebels (1-4, 0-0) 79-65 and they capped the tournament on Sunday night with an offensive performance that culminated with three Cougar players scoring in double digits. Tia Presley led the way for WSU, scoring 29 points, which is also a career best for the junior guard.

Presley has led the Cougars in scoring three times already in the 2013-14 campaign, with two of her team-leading performances coming during the Rainbow Wahine Classic.

Sophomore guard, Lia Galdeira, and senior forward, Sage Romberg, also had strong shooting performances.

Romberg found the bottom of the net on seven of her nine attempts from the field, tallying 14 points. Galdeira also totaled 14 points and got to the free throw line five times. She has now scored in double digits in five consecutive games. She also led the Cougars effort on the boards, tallying eight rebounds.

WSU had 40 team rebounds, however, Ole Miss held the advantage on the glass snatching 46 rebounds of their own. Washington State was particularly proud of their defensive effort.

“I thought that we showed an enormous amount of toughness coming out and forcing turnovers,” said Daugherty.

The Cougars stole the ball from Ole Miss eight times and also had five blocks in the game. The defense played a major role in the Cougars tournament win.

“We were able to get into our running game and pretty much stop what Ole Miss likes to do offensively,” said Daugherty.

In total, Washington State forced 17 turnovers, led by Galdeira who contributed five steals, while all 11 Cougar players tallied points in the winning effort.

Two of Washington State’s tough matchups in the Rainbow Wahine Classic, however, ended in losses. They lost their second game of the tournament by a score of 88-66 to the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday.

West Virginia was successful shooting the ball, Saturday afternoon. The Mountaineers shot 54 percent from the field in the win, while the Cougars finished the afternoon shooting 43 percent.

West Virginia opened the game on a 9-2 scoring run, and despite WSU closing the deficit to just five six times throughout the game, the Mountaineers tended to have an answer. WVU ended the half on a high note with a 13-6 scoring run to send both teams into the locker room.

In the second half, each team matched each other stride for stride and WVU held their double digit lead over WSU. The Cougars were once again led in scoring by Presley, who had 16 points. Hot on her tail was the sophomore, Hawaiian native, Galdeira, with 12 points.

Sage Romberg had a team-leading five rebounds while supplying WSU’s lone two blocks, however, WVU still managed to control the post, scoring 46 points in the painted area.  

The Cougars, saw some flashes of the West Virginia post play on Friday when they opened the Rainbow Wahine Classic with a loss to the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine. Hawaii allowed Washington State to score 28 points in the paint.

The tournament hosts found themselves off to a hot start on Friday evening, leading by as much as 15 in the first half, however, Washington State answered the UH start by posting a 14-5 run down the stretch in the first half.

The Cougars went to the locker room down by just six and came out to start the second half with Galdeira and Presly leading the way, helping the Cougs to a two point, 36-34 lead. UH, trailing by two, 46-44, went on a 12-0 run later in the half to reclaim the lead, 56-46 over Washington State.

Similar to the WVU game, WSU attempted to cut the Rainbow Wahine lead multiple times, but they came up short, falling to UH 77-66.

Galdeira, who was playing back in Hawaii for the first time in her college career led all scorers with 29 points and also snagged nine rebounds for the Cougs.

Looking back on the tournament and Sunday’s victory over Ole Miss, Coach Daugherty believes the Cougars are ready to return home.

“I’m proud of the effort and intensity that our kids showed and it’s a great win to build upon, headed home to play Fresno State,” she said.

Washington State will return home on Friday to play the Fresno State Bulldogs in Beasley Coliseum.