The Washington State women’s basketball team trails No. 4 Stanford 28-24 at the half. Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike currently leads all scorers with 12 points — she is 6-8 from the field with zero three point attempts.

Stanford and WSU both struggled offensively early, as the defenses were disrupting the offensive possessions early and often. Freshmen Lili Thomposon scored the first points of the game, her only points so far, with an easy layup two minutes and twenty seconds into the half.

Washington State used aggressive defense to contain Ogwumike for the first five minutes of the half, but the defense started to break down as the defense started to struggle with the transition. As a result, Ogwumike caught fire and she has scored all of her points in the last 15 minutes

The Cardinal used Ogwumike to build their lead up to 10 points, not once but twice, in the first half.

At the under four media timeout, Coach Daugherty said something that clicked for the defense as the Cougs came out and shut down the Ogwumike and close the gap. WSU went on a 10-0 run to close the gap down to two: 26-24.

But Stanford drew  a couple of fouls and were able to stretch out their final possession of hte half. The Cardinal got Ogwumike open around the free throw line, and she hit the buzzer beater to give Stanford a four-point lead.

Going into the second half

The Cougs are going to need to make smarter shots, too often throughout the first half they would settle for even a partially open look. WSU is going to need to increase the ball movement and not rely on that first (or second) look at the hoop that they get. If they do that, it is really going to open up their offense, and could be a difference maker in the game.

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