SUNDAY in the NCAAW saw the Washington State Cougars come from behind in the second half to claim a one-point triumph against the Oregon Ducks in an overtime thriller.

The Cougars trailed by a significant margin at the main break, but rallied in the final two quarters to take the lead with little time remaining on the clock. However, the Ducks forced extra time with 0.1 seconds on the clock, but Washington State scrapped through to a tense victory.

Much of the Cougars’ success can be put down to an even scoring spread, with the victors having plenty of contributors. Five players scored 14 or more points, which emphasised how elite Washington State’s ball movement was. Leading the way was Bella Murekatete, who had a team-high 20 points on 10/16 shooting (all from two-point territory) to go with seven rebounds in just 28 minutes of action. She also had two blocks and was working extremely hard on both ends of the court.

For the Ducks, Endyia Rogers was the main scorer, producing a whopping 33 points, which was also the most of anyone on the court. She was not shying away from putting up a shot, making 12 of her 21 attempts from the field. Rogers’ best success came from behind the arc, shooting 75 per cent from downtown (six from eight). Also impressing was Chance Gray, who had 22 points, albeit on slightly less accurate shooting. She shot 7/17 from the field, but also chimed in for five three-pointers.

Oregon got off to a flying start in the first half, taking the lead in the first half and getting ahead thanks to some explosive scoring from Rogers and Gray. It looked like all one-way traffic as the Ducks took a nine-point lead into the main break.

However, Washington State fought back with an electric performance in the third quarter, outscoring the opposition 21-13 to make things very interesting heading into the fourth. The Cougars took the lead on the first possession of the term, thanks to a Johanna Teder three-pointer, and the match was back and forth for the remainder of the quarter. When Oregon trailed by two points in the dying seconds of the game, it looked like the result was sealed. Instead, Grace VanSlooten drew a foul with 0.1 seconds on the clock and drained both free throws to send the match to overtime.

In a thrilling finish, the Ducks could not drain the final shot of the game, as the Cougars claimed an impressive win to break an eight-game losing streak in the series.