PULLMAN — Players come and go. Coaches get hired and fired. Teams go on to greatness or mediocrity.
Everything changes about the Washington-Washington State women’s basketball series except one thing: The Huskies never lose. Not for the past 18 years, anyway.
The Huskies, despite losing leading scorer Jazmine Davis for the final 10 minutes with a possible concussion, stretched their amazing winning streak over WSU to 36 games with a 79-72 triumph Sunday afternoon at Beasley Coliseum.
Heather Corral, The Associated Press state high school player of the year last season for Prairie High School near Vancouver, came in for Davis and matched her previous season total of three 3-pointers. Her nine points and 17 minutes played were season highs.
“To finally hit some (3-pointers) in a game was pretty nice,” Corral said.
“She’s really talented,” UW coach Kevin McGuff said. “I’ve almost been waiting for a game like this where she really breaks out.”
Both teams played well for the most part in a freewheeling Pacific-12 Conference game watched by an estimated 500 spectators (official attendance was 1,077). The Huskies (12-5 overall, 4-2 Pac-12) trailed by narrow margins most of the first half, but led most of the second half after opening with a 9-0 run after the break.
Four players scored in double figures for both teams, led by Davis with 18 points. McGuff said Davis was injured when she was hit in the head with an elbow on a drive to the basket.
Aminah Williams was 8-for-10 shooting and recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies. Kristi Kingma added 16 points, and Federal Way High grad Talia Walton had 15.
Tia Presley led Washington State (5-12, 1-5) with 15 points and four steals. Freshman guard Lia Galdeira, WSU’s leading scorer, joined Sage Romberg and Mariah Cooks in scoring 13 points.
The Cougars trailed 74-70 with 40 seconds left when Galdeira shot an air ball on a 3-point try. Fouled on another 3-point attempt with 7.3 seconds left and the Cougars down by five, Galdeira missed all three free throws.
WSU players and coach June Daugherty were adamant that the losing streak against the Huskies has not gotten to them mentally.
“We really don’t think about it,” Romberg said. “It’s just a game that we want to win.”
