Washington State women edge Colorado in Pac-12 Tournament

Mar 3, 2017, 12:52 am

SEATTLE -- Alexys Swedlund had a career-best 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including four 3-pointers, Caila Hailey scored seven of her career-high 17 points in the fourth quarter and Washington State rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Colorado 79-78 in the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday night.

Kayla Washington tied her career-best with 12 points, on 6-of-8 shooting, and grabbed nine rebounds and Pinelope Pavlopoulou scored 10 for seventh-seeded Washington State (12-18). The Cougars will face No. 2 seed, and 10th-ranked, Stanford in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Hailey hit two free throws to give Washington State a 76-68 lead with 2:18 to play, but Alexis Robinson and Haley Smith sandwiched 3-pointers around a Pavlopoulou foul shot before Kennedy Leonard hit two free throws to pull Colorado (15-15) within one with 19 seconds left. After Hailey made a pair from the line, Leonard was fouled -- and injured -- as she made a layup with 12 seconds remaining. She was replaced by Monica Burich, a 79 percent free throw shooter this season, who missed the ensuing foul shot and WSU held on.

Smith scored 21, Alexis Robinson added 17 points and Ariana Freeman had 16 for Colorado. Smith and Robinson combined to make 9 of 10 from 3-point range.

The Buffaloes made 10 of their first 13 shots and led 23-9 with three minutes left in the first quarter, but went without a made field goal for the next 8:41 as Washington State used an 18-0 run to take a five-point lead with 3:48 to go in the half.