Senior Tara Wallack’s big day, her final game as a Coug, is still days away, yet the forward was still emotional after Thursday’s 67-59 win over San Francisco.
“I’m trying not to cry right now and trying not to cry all this week,” Wallack said.
Wallack, who was joined by junior guard Astera Tuhina postgame, both smiled, looked at each other and laughed as the they knew the moment had started to settle in for Wallack.
For Tuhina, the moment is also full of significance.
“If I had to talk about [Wallack], we would be here all day,” Tuhina said. “It just means everything to me. It’s been a lot of fun these last three years, especially living with her, seeing her face 24 hours a day. It never gets annoying…we’ll never get tired of it.”
As the team’s only senior, Wallack sits just days away from getting a massive celebration and close-out to a historic career on Saturday’s Senior Night.
The Canadian’s run of emotions was capped off by one of her best performances of the season, notching another double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. The double-double was the fourth of this season and eighth of her career.
“Tara’s minutes were huge for us, 12 rebounds, [we] don’t get that very often but that’s a pretty big night 20 and 12,” WSU head coach Kamie Ethridge said. “What you’re seeing in Tara, I think more than anything, is just a senior that doesn’t want this to end and knows that she’s in front of these fans one more time and putting that jersey on one more time now and she’s playing like it.”
The Cougars needed Wallack’s performance Thursday night as the team started off slow on both ends of the floor. The Dons outscored the Cougs in the first quarter 18-13 behind 10 early points from guard Luana Leite. The senior and the rest of the USF offense hammered WSU down low and drew a lot of contact to generate 11 first-half free throw attempts.
The Cougs would only make two three-pointers in the half and shot just 29% from the field overall. While the second quarter saw another 13-point output from WSU, the defense turned up the intensity and limited USF to nine points in the quarter. The Cougs racked up nine of their 13 total steals in the first half as guards like Tuhina and Marta Alsina hounded the Dons in help situations and the post.
“[Tuhina] had huge steals against Portland as well, just heads up play, and Marta is such a special defender… just high IQ and knows how to put herself in play,” Ethridge said. “Those two kids I thought were really good.”
WSU turned defense into offense in the third quarter, continuing the post-half resurgences the team has had in recent wins. The Cougs outscored the Dons 22-12 in the third for the their highest-scoring quarter of the night, even while underperforming from behind the arc (2-9). 11 points from Wallack and solid bench play from guards Charlotte Abraham and Jenna Villa would help the Cougs’ momentum in third and carry over to the fourth.
Ethridge praised her team’s efforts in the third and attributed the success to the team’s defense in the second.
“I thought the second quarter too…we held them to nine points, I think they had nine turnovers in that quarter so we just really flipped it,” Ethridge said. “[We] couldn’t get our offense going very good but I thought that was just a big step for us after giving up 18 or so and then that carried over.”
The Dons closed the gap in the fourth but WSU maintained a comfortable lead for much of the quarter and Ethridge was able to put in her reserves with just over two minutes to go.
Neither team shot well from outside, with USF and WSU shooting 22% and 27%, respectively, but the Cougs won the game with energy around the rim. WSU won the rebounding battle 43-34 and put up 14 more shots than the Dons.
Aside from Wallack’s strong outing, guard Eleonora Villa had 13 points and Jenna Villa and Abraham both had stretches of keeping the team afloat. Jenna Villa had 9 points and Abraham had 10.
For USF, Leite finished the game out strong and was a big reason why WSU did not completely pull away. Leite scored 19 points, including five free throws. The Dons got the most production from their most experienced as guard Freja Werth and forward Emma Trawally Porta, a senior and graduate student, grabbed nine and eight rebounds, respectively. Werth had 16 points but Porta struggled with nine turnovers.
With the win, the Cougs locked up the third seed in the West Coast Conference standings. Even if WSU were to be in a tie with either second-place Portland or fourth-place Oregon State, two losses to the Pilots and two wins against the Beavers keep the Cougs in their current position.
WSU is guaranteed a spot in the WCC tournament quarterfinals and will play their first postseason game on March 9. While the tournament remains a priority, all eyes are now on Wallack and her Senior Day sendoff.
“We just got to be there for her and show her a lot of love on Saturday and do everything we can to make sure we walk away with the win,” Ethridge said.
Wallack will play her last regular season home game as a Coug against Saint Mary’s on Saturday at 11 a.m.
