Kona grad Molina helps Washington State upset No. 9 UCLA
ASSOCIATED PRESS / DEC. 27
Washington State’s Chanelle Molina scored a career-high 33 points to help the Cougars upset No. 9 UCLA 82-73.
PULLMAN, Wash. >> Freshman Chanelle Molina scored a career-high 33 points and Washington State upset No. 9 UCLA 82-73 tonight.
Washington State (7-8, 2-2 Pac-12) outscored the Bruins 31-21 in the fourth quarter to win their second game in a row after losing six straight.
Jordin Canada had 19 points and Monique Billings 18 for UCLA (11-3, 2-1. The Bruins had won three straight.
The Bruins were undone by 34 percent shooting, while the Cougars shot 52 percent.
Washington State led 25-23 after the first quarter behind 10 points from Molina, a Konawaena graduate who made all five of her shots.
Kennedy Burke’s 3-pointer highlighted an 11-0 run for the Bruins to open the second quarter, as they built a 34-25 lead. Burke sank her first six field goal attempts.
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Pinelopi Pavlopoulou, who finished with 14 points, hit a pair of baskets as Washington State cut UCLA’s lead to 38-34 at halftime.
Molina, the three-time Honolulu Star-Advertiser all-state player of the year, sank a pair of baskets to put Washington State up 41-40 in the third. But Billings replied with three quick baskets as the Bruins took a 48-46 lead.
Billings’ basket lifted UCLA to a 52-51 lead after three quarters.
Molina made consecutive 3-pointers during a 10-0 run as Washington State took a 61-53 lead with 7:38 left in the game.
Molina had three more baskets as the Cougars ran to a 75-64 lead.
The Bruins had lost only at No. 2 Baylor and No. 5 South Carolina this season.
UCLA dominates the series with a 52-8 record, and had won six in a row against the Cougars. Washington State’s last win was in 2012.
Washington State leading scorer Borislava Hristova and third-leading scorer Louise Brown both missed the game because of injuries.
BIG PICTURE
UCLA: Billings is the current Pac-12 player of the week after averaging 18.5 points and 15.5 rebounds in the first two league games of the season.
Washington State: The Cougars were coming off a stretch of six consecutive road games, with the only win against Oregon on New Year’s Day
UP NEXT
UCLA: At No. 12 Washington on Sunday.
Washington State: Hosts Southern California on Sunday.
