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Los Angeles may be the City of Angels, but it was full of nothing but demons for the Washington State basketball teams this week. The Cougars went 0-4 against the Los Angeles teams with the women’s team suffering a pair of heartbreaking overtime losses.
Following an 81-77 overtime loss to USC on Friday, the women’s team rallied back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit on Sunday to force overtime against No 8 UCLA. That included a near miracle in the final seconds as Charlisse Leger-Walker intentionally missed a free throw while trailing by two, only to see her older sister Krystal Leger-Walker tip the ball in to force overtime.
However, like on Friday, the Cougs just didn’t have enough left in the tank to finish the overtime. WSU went cold late and UCLA made its free throws to win 68-66.
The Cougs entered the weekend with just one loss all season, before back-to-back losses this weekend. Things don’t get much easier for WSU who will travel to face Oregon, the only other team to beat the Cougs this season. Oregon entered the weekend ranked No. 10, but lost to Arizona on Friday. The Ducks used a second-half rally to beat the Cougs 69-65 in December.
On the men’s side, the Cougars rebounded from a 30-point loss to UCLA on Thursday, but still couldn’t avoid enough mistakes in an 8-point loss to USC on Saturday. The Cougars will return to Pullman to host Utah on Thursday. The Utes beat Stanford on Thursday, before losing to Cal on Saturday.
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Women’s basketball:
No. 25 WSU forces OT again, but can't close out UCLA | Sports | lmtribune.com
For the third consecutive game, the 25th-ranked Washington State women's basketball team stormed back from a double-digit second-half deficit. For the third contest in a row, one of the Leger-Walker sisters sent it into overtime.
Cougs Force OT Again but Falls at No. 8 UCLA, 68-66 - Washington State University Athletics
The No. 25-ranked Washington State women's team forced overtime for the third-consecutive game, but came up short at No. 8/8 UCLA on Sunday, Jan. 17, as the Cougars fell to the Bruins in overtime, 68-66, at Pauley Pavilion.