The Washington State women’s team made a dramatic late charge to lead by three points with 2:40 remaining, but host Saint Louis scored the last six points of the game for a 73-70 victory.
ST. LOUIS – The Washington State women’s team made a dramatic late charge to lead by three points with 2:40 remaining, but Saint Louis scored the last six points of the game for a 73-70 victory on Sunday.
Alexys Swedlund scored 12 points to lead the Cougars (5-5), who have lost three in a row.
Sadie Stipanovich, whose father is former NBA center Steve Stipanovich, collected 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Billikens (8-3).
Saint Louis made 17 of 20 free throws (85 percent), compared with 7 of 14 (50 percent) for WSU.
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The Cougars trailed 59-49 after three quarters but started the fourth with a 17-5 run to take the lead.
Caila Hailey, who scored 11 points and had a game-high five steals, made a three-pointer to give WSU a 70-67 lead — but the Cougars wouldn’t score again.
• Two Pac-12 women’s teams ranked among the top 10 lost road games.
No. 6 South Carolina beat No. 9 UCLA 66-57 and unranked Tennessee defeated 10th-ranked Stanford 59-51.
• No. 5 Mississippi State beat host USC 76-72 in the Women of Troy Classic title game. Sadie Edwards scored 24 points for USC (8-2).
Eastern men lose
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky dominated the second half of a 70-48 rout of the Eastern Washington men, who entered with a seven-game winning streak.
Eastern (8-3) led 24-21 late in the first half before being outscored 49-24 the rest of the way by the Norse (8-3).
Jacob Wiley had team-high totals of 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles.
Portland prevails
PORTLAND – The Portland Pilots beat Oregon State 53-45 in a Dam City Classic game before 8,334 at the Moda Center, home of the NBA Portland Trail Blazers.
First-year Pilots coach Terry Porter is a former NBA All-Star guard who had his jersey retired by the Trail Blazers in 2009.
Portland (7-3), listed as a 4½ -point favorite over the Beavers, hadn’t beaten a Pac-12 opponent since it defeated both Oregon and UCLA in the 2009-10 season.
Jazz Johnson led the Pilots with 15 points.
Freshman JaQuori McLaughlin, a graduate of Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor, scored 23 points for Oregon State (3-9), which has lost five straight.
The Beavers’ leading scorer, Tres Tinkle, missed his sixth straight game after breaking a bone in his non-shooting hand.