Pretchel, No. 6 Stanford women cruise past Washington St

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — The Stanford women relied on defense for a 2-0 trip north.

Ashten Pretchel had 19 points and 14 rebounds and the sixth-ranked Cardinal cruised past Washington State 71-49 on Sunday.

On Friday night, the Cardinal shut down Washington in a 58-41 victory.

“I thought we played well defensively. If you are keeping teams scoring in the 40s, that is good,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “A road sweep is hard and (Cougars coach) Kamie Ethridge is doing an excellent job with her team. It is a tough game and we are excited to win.”

Kiana Williams scored 17 points and Lexie Hull had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinal (20-2, 9-1 Pac-12), who have won five straight since their lone conference loss to Oregon.

Stanford improved to 67-0 all-time against Washington State.

After scoring a season-best 32 points Friday against California, Borislava Hristova was held to 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting for Washington State (10-12, 3-7 Pac-12). Jovana Subasic scored 12 points and Chanelle Molina had 10 for the Cougars, who shot 31% from the field, including 0 for 15 from 3-point range.

“I just think we faced a better team than us in every capacity,” Ethridge said. “They outplayed us in every area of the game. They are a very difficult team to guard. They put players on the court, all five of which can shoot the 3. They got some 3s early that we did not want to give up. … They got us really off-balance and we just didn’t answer on the other end.”

The Cardinal have held four of their past eight opponents under 50 points.

The Cardinal jumped out to a 23-8 lead in the first quarter with a flurry of buckets from five different players. Washington State struggled with Stanford’s length and athleticism, shooting 25% from the field and committing five turnovers.

Washington State responded with an 11-3 run to start the second quarter. Stanford led 42-27 at the break and then held Washington State to eight points on 22% shooting in the third quarter to pull away.

BIG PICTURE

Stanford: The Cardinal are 31-0 in Pullman and have beaten the Cougars by 10 points or more in 11 straight meetings.

Washington State: The Cougars fell to 0-10 against ranked opponents. No team in the Pac-12 has played more ranked opponents than the Cougars this season.

UP NEXT

Stanford: Hosts UCLA on Friday.

Washington State: Hosts Colorado on Friday.