Up north in the frozen Palouse, where locals experience Pacific-10 Conference women’s basketball as often as a hot winter day, a small crowd erupted into Saturday night celebration inside Friel Court.
Confetti fluttered onto players’ shoulders. Brightly colored streamers fell from the rafters. By the magnitude of the party, one might think that Washington State had just won the Pac-10 title.
Well, it didn’t … but the Cougars did knock off the defending conference champions.
Forward Joanna Smith’s three-pointer with 14.6 seconds left capped a dramatic, 67-64 Washington State victory in Pullman, Wash., over the injury-stricken Oregon women’s basketball team.
A crowd of 730 fans — a huge turnout for a women’s game in Pullman — watched the Ducks crumble down the stretch after leading through the first 30 minutes of play.
Oregon head coach Jody Runge said her team lost its composure.
“It was, individually for some players, a good effort,” Runge told KEZI-TV, as the song “Celebration” echoed through the arena. “But I think as a team, it was not a great effort as far as executing and getting in sync, and clicking, and doing the things we do typically a lot better than we did tonight.”
The loss snapped Oregon’s 30-game winning streak against Northwest schools.
The Ducks (11-4 overall, 4-1 Pac-10), playing without injured starting forwards Angelina Wolvert and Lindsey Dion, were locked in a 62-62 tie with 1:56 remaining.
All seemed well when Oregon center Jenny Mowe blocked a shot, followed by a jumper from Kourtney Shreve with just more than a minute remaining. Washington State (8-8, 3-3) couldn’t respond on the offensive end, and the Ducks came up with the rebound and a two-point lead as seconds ticked away.
But starting at the 30-second mark, all that could go wrong for Oregon did.

Mowe was intentionally fouled in the backcourt and missed the front end of a one-and-one shooting opportunity, squandering a possible four-point lead.
Then, Smith’s three-pointer, which bounced twice on the rim before falling through the hoop.
The Ducks had a chance to take the lead on their next possession, but shooting guard Jamie Craighead missed a short baseline jumper. Forward Brianne Meharry and Washington State’s Victoria Harrod dove for the loose ball, and it appeared that a jump ball would give Oregon another chance.
Instead, Meharry was whistled for her fifth foul with only 2.2 seconds left on the clock.
Harrod sank her free throws, and the Cougars intercepted the Ducks’ full-court pass as time expired.
“That’s what happens when you play at home,” Runge said. “The shots fall for you and they don’t fall for you when you’re on the road, and that’s where you’ve got to make loose balls and offensive rebounds and big plays like that happen. We didn’t do those things very well.”
Meharry scored a game-high 17 points to accompany eight rebounds, one assist and two steals before fouling out. Reserve forward Ndidi Unaka scored 15 points in 25 minutes, and Craighead tallied 13 points, two assists and three steals in 36 minutes.
Alyssa Fredrick, getting her first career start in place of Wolvert, scored eight points and grabbed five boards in 26 minutes.
Despite the loss, Oregon retained a half-game lead in the race for the Pac-10 title. Tied in second place at 4-2 are Arizona, Washington and Arizona State.