• Over the course of the past couple of days, there's been good news and bad news for Cougar Nation. Let's begin with the good news.
  Last night, Friday, Wazzu women's hoops (15-8,7-5 Pac-12) hosted UCLA (10-8,5-5 Pac-12) in Beasley Coliseum for a conference game that had significant implications for both teams. Whoever earned the victory would be a step closer to an invitation to the NCAA tournament.
  The Bruins got off to a decent start and held a 5-4 edge just a few minutes of the contest. From there, Washington State held the lead until midway through the fourth quarter.
  UCLA came out with a 12-point run to begin the fourth quarter and take a 54-47 lead and seemed to have the game in hand. It was not a big surprise when Coach Kamey Ethridge's squad seemed to run out of gas in the final ten minutes. Ethridge was forced to change her short rotation of players when Charlisse Leger-Walker picked up her third personal foul just minutes into the second quarter of play. She didn't pick up her fourth foul until the final stanza forcing her to sit on the bench and cheer on her teammates. UCLA seized that opportunity to make their move sensing that the Cougs would be at a loss to find some offense. After all, Charlisse is one of the premier players in the Pac-12 and is Wazzu's leading scorer and leading the team in minutes played. The crimson and gray are a different unity without her on the court.
  Senior Ula Motuga got hot from beyond the three-point arc and the lead UCLA built up was demolished by a seven-point surge by WSU. With a little under four minutes to play the scoreboard lights showed a tie ballgame at 56-56. With under two-minutes to go, Motuga drained a beauty from 3-point territory to give the Cougs a 63-61 edge. UCLA countered with a couple of buckets to retake the lead. Once again, Motuga was left open from beyond the arc and hit nothing but net to close the gap to 65-63 in favor of the visiting Bruins with 56-seconds remaining in regulation. The ensuing possessions by both teams resulted in no scoring and a couple of turnovers.
  With just 20-seconds remaining, junior Bella Murekatete stole the ball allowing the Cougs a final chance to tie or take the lead. When the Cougs really need a bucket, they usually go to their star Charlisse Leger-Walker. They did just that but Charlisse missed. Dramatically, her sister Krystal crashed the boards, grabbed the miss, and put the ball back up and in to tie the game. But wait! There's more. There was still 1.7 seconds remaining to be played and Krystal was fouled and earned a free throw for her efforts. Cooly and calmly, she went through her normal routine at the foul line and banged home the shot to give her team a one-point advantage. UCLA threw the ball away on the in-bound pass turning it back to Wazzu to run out the clock.
  It was a wild scene in Pullman with students screaming and cheering their Cougs after a dramatic win.
  You couldn't write a better way to finish the game. Were it not for Krystal Leger-Walker stepping up to fill the scoring void created by her sister getting into foul trouble, well, the outcome probably would have been different. She finished the contest with a team-high 22-points while dishing out a game-high five assists.
  Ula Motuga followed Leger-Walker in the scoring column, as the Logan, Australia native scored 12 points. Her scoring kept the Cougs in the game in the final quarter.
  Bella Murekatete rounded out the trio of double-digit scorers for WSU, as the junior forward collected 11-points and pulled down seven rebounds. Charlisse Leger-Walker grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go along with six-points and two steals. Given her limited minutes of play, those are solid, productive stats.
  Coach Ethridge had this to say after the final buzzer sounded:
  "I'm unbelievably relieved and thrilled for our team. I thought it was a hard-fought game that went back and forth. Both teams were trading momentum throughout the game. I was very concerned with how we started the fourth quarter. We got into a bit of a hole, but I thought it was huge for our team to come back and make big plays. The ending was perfect for Krystal. Not only to tie the game, but she also stepped up to the line and hit a free throw to win it. I'm thrilled that we pulled this out and found a way to win."
  https://wsucougars.com/news/2022/2/11/womens-basketball-krystal-leger-walkers-heroics-lifts-cougs-past-ucla.aspx

• Now for the bad news. WSU men's hoops (14-8,7-4 Pac-12) hosted No. 4 Arizona (21-2,11-1 Pac-12) Thursday and the outcome wasn't pretty for Cougar Nation. The final in this one was 72-60, closer than it seemed as a viewer.
  Arizona led by as many as 17 in the first half thanks to an early 13-0 run. Washington State shot just 26.5% in the first half, missed all 12 of its 3-point attempts, and trailed 33-20 at the break.
  The Cougars started knocking down some perimeter shots early in the second half and pulled within 39-35. T.J. Bamba missed a layup attempt in transition that would have trimmed the deficit to two, and instead became the start of an Arizona big run. The Wildcats made their next seven shots as part of a 15-4 run. Basically, game over.
  Adding injury to insult, Mouhamed Gueye exited with 7:13 left after suffering a left ankle injury. Gueye had to be helped off the court. The freshman finished with nine-points and five-rebounds. Smith did not have an update about the severity of the injury afterward.
  The Cougs came into this game as the conference leader in 3-point percentage but finished 8 of 32.
  ''We've got to play better. Simple as that,'' Washington State coach Kyle Smith said after the game. ''We've got to make shots. You're not going to beat a team that good shooting the way we did.''

• From Colton Clark, Spokesman-Review:
  "Three NFL hopefuls from Washington State took major steps toward their professional goals Tuesday when each received an invite to the NFL scouting combine.
  Right tackle Abraham Lucas, cornerback Jaylen Watson and running back Max Borghi will represent the Cougars at the pre-NFL draft training event, which will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis from March 1-7.
  A total of 324 pro prospects are invited to this year’s combine."

• Here's a good background story on Cam Ward, the heir-apparent to Wazzu's starting quarterback position:
  https://www.nbcrightnow.com/sports/washington_state_university/i-took-a-different-route-new-washington-state-quarterback-cameron-ward-bursts-into-spotlight-after/article_8e1927ad-589d-5803-9804-9afd29e06917.html

• Here's a fun story from Cougfan.com:
  https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Washington-State-basketball-great-Derrick-Low-says-his-Cougar-hoops-team-visit-was-harmonic-convergence-182619794/

Go Cougs!!!