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WBK: Cougs hold off UC Davis to earn Elite 8 spot in WNIT

Playing in front of their biggest crowd of the season, the Washington State women's basketball team did not disappoint the Beasley Faithful as the Cougs took care of UC Davis, 71-62, in the third (Sweet 16) round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament on Thursday night.

The victory for the Cougs (15-19) moved WSU into the quarterfinals of the WNIT as just eight teams remain to vie for the tournament's crown. They will travel to Iowa to face the Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight.

Continuing their hot play together, the Cougs' trio of guards led the way to victory with sophomore Alexys Swedlund pacing the attack with her fifth 20-point game of the season. The sophomore sharp-shooter did a bulk of her damage from deep as she hit four from downtown to bring her season total to 68, one shy of the Cougs' single-season record put together by Tricia Lamb in the 1998-99 season.

Not to be outdone, the Cougs' captains followed Swedlund's lead as Pinelopi Pavlopoulou went for 16 points while Caila Hailey chipped in 13. The two junior guards have been on a scoring binge of late with Pavlopoulou going for double-figures in five of the last six contests while Hailey has hit the 10-point threshold in eight of her last 10 games.

Getting off to a hot start, the Cougs shot the lights out in Beasley in the first quarter as they raced to a 25-17 advantage after just 10 minutes of play. The early success was in large part to Swedlund who got the Cougs off and running with an 11-point opening quarter including hitting three of her four three-pointers.

While the offense would cool in the second quarter the defense would not as the Cougs held the Aggies without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the new quarter while extending their lead to 13 points at the break.

Out of the halftime break, the Cougs braced for an Aggie run they knew was headed their way as UC Davis proved why they have been road warriors throughout the postseason and a tough out. Catching fire from behind the arc, the Aggies hit their first four from deep to start the second half including a pair from Pele Gianotti. Behind a 13-2 run, UC Davis cut the Cougs' lead down to just three points midway through the third quarter while holding within two possessions to trail by just five heading into the game's final period.

Having played two tough games on the road to start the tournament and battle tested in the nation's best conference, the Cougs would not be denied their berth into the quarterfinal round as WSU opened the fourth on a 10-3 run to push the lead back to double-digits.

Just as the Aggies had used the three-ball to get back into the game, the Cougs used it to keep UC Davis at bay as Swedlund and Pavlopoulou went back-to-back from downtown as part of eight unanswered that ballooned the lead back to 12 with just over six minutes to play in the game.

Up just five with 4:38 to play, the Cougs would fall back on what made their run possible; their unrelenting defense to stifle any comeback hopes the Aggies had built. Over the next three minutes, WSU would allow just three points to the Aggies while using the free throw line to grow their advantage to 14 with just over one minute to play. From there, it was just a formality of what the final score would be as the Cougs closed out the Aggies who never relented until the game's final buzzer.

The Aggies would not go quietly on the night, especially Rachel Nagel who led the way with 20 points, all coming in the second half of play including 15 of the 18 UC Davis points in the fourth quarter alone. She would finish the night 7-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-7 from deep as the Aggies hit 11-of-29 three-pointers in the game. Gianotti ended her night with 11 points to go with eight rebounds.

In all, the Aggies ended up outshooting the Cougs 35.5% to 35.2%. Despite getting out shot, the Cougs made up the difference with their rebounding as WSU came up with 49 rebounds including 22 on the offensive end that turned into 17 second-chance points. Swedlund also led the way on the glass with nine rebounds as she finished just short of her second career double-double.

As a team, the 2016-17 Cougs became the program's all-time single season record holders for rebounds as they finished the game with 1375 in 34 games. The previous mark, set by the 2013-14 edition of the Cougs ended their season with 1345 while also making it to the WNIT.

With the win, the Cougs will also become the longest running team in program history with their record-setting 35th game to be played on Sunday. The Cougs will set their record for games played at Iowa as the two teams meet in Iowa City at 3 p.m. ET for a berth into the WNIT's semifinals.

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