Dayana Mendes birthday double-double lifts WSU over Loyola Marymount 63-51

The French freshman celebrates her 21st in style with 14 and 11.

Washington State women’s basketball successfully avenged its loss against the Loyola Marymount Lions with a 63-51 win Thursday thanks to a strong team effort which saw four players reach double digit scoring.

Junior Astera Tuhina led WSU (16-11, 11-5 in conference) in scoring with 15 thanks to an explosive eight points with two made threes in a third quarter which saw 21 points for the hosting Cougs. With her two assists tonight, she crosses over 100 on the season. Freshman Dayana Mendes continued to shine, recording her second career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

“Every loss sucks, knowing that we had to play them again and just focused on knowing the scout, not making the same mistakes again and that’s what we did today.” Tuhina said.

After a massive 37 point outburst in the last matchup, LMU (10-13, 4-11) leading scorer Naudia Evans was limited to just five points on 2-9 shooting in the first half.

The game started slowly as both teams struggled out the gates. WSU shot efficiently at 7-11 in the first quarter but timely three-point shooting for the Lions kept the game tied through one at 14.

The second quarter saw both teams experience their share of turnover woes exchanging bouts of sloppy play. WSU recorded a total of six turnovers during the second quarter with LMU committing four of their own. The Cougars capitalized on the opportunities far better during the quarter, going on a 7-0 run stamped by a smooth layup from Mendes to take the lead.

Both teams looked to deal damage inside as 71% of total points in the first half would come in the paint. LMU sophomore Maya Hernandez led the way for the Lions in the paint recording 10 points in the first half alone. Foul trouble kept Hernandez from being a larger offensive force through the rest of the game. She finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.

From the start of the second half, WSU began to separate itself from LMU with a relentless offensive output that couldn’t be matched. Evans scored seven points early for the Lions, but WSU would answer with another lengthy scoring run, this time 9-0. Tara Wallack showed some flashy passing recording three assists for the Cougs in the third, while LMU failed to record a field goal in the final seven minutes of the quarter. By quarter’s end, WSU had a 13 point lead as the score read out 48-35.

The Lions could not keep up with the Cougars as the game wound down to a close as WSU recorded seven offensive rebounds in the fourth leading to five second chance points.

“I just thought in the third quarter we ran some things that created some mismatches and didn’t turn the ball over. I think when they called timeout, we already had five assists and no turnovers,” Kamie Ethridge said. “After that, I thought we settled in and were a little bit better.”

Wallack recorded six rebounds, three blocks and a steal to go with her 12 points. Ele Villa matched Mendes in scoring with 14 of her own on 6-11 shooting. WSU shot 50% from the field tonight compared to just 40% for LMU.

Not celebrating her birthday alone, Mendes shares a birthday with teammate Jean Chiu, who entered in the game’s final minutes.

Thursday’s win marks now four out of the last five for Coach Etheridge’s squad. With minimal margin for error to jump to second in the WCC, WSU will need another performance like tonight’s when they travel to face the Portland Pilots on Saturday in another rematch the Cougs are going to need to win to be best positioned as conference tournament play rapidly approaches.