PULLMAN, Wash. – The USF women's basketball team suffered a loss on Friday night in its first road action of the year, falling to Washington State 73-35 at Beasley Coliseum.
 
Senior Rachel Howard was the lone Don in double figures with 10 points on the night. Michaela Rakova and Zayn Dornstauder each chipped in with five points apiece, while Rakova grabbed five rebounds as well.
 
USF (2-1), which came into the night averaging 82 points per game over its two opening wins, struggled to build much offensive momentum on the night. Howard's three with 7:46 in the first quarter gave the Dons their only lead of the night at 3-2, after which Washington State (3-0) started pulling away.
 
The Cougars were bolstered by three double-digit scorers in Ivana Kmetskova (13), Borislava Hristova (11) and Maria Kostourkova (11).
 
WSU built up a 25-9 lead by the end of the first quarter on Louise Brown's three-pointer.
 
Both sides got out to a slow start in the second frame as neither team registered a bucket until back-to-back layups by Dornstauder cut the Cougar lead to 12, which would end up being the closest USF would get in the contest.
 
The Cougars widened the gap with a 12-0 run early in the second half that was eventually snapped by Alicia Roufosse's layup with 3:27 to play in the third quarter.
 
USF returns to action on Sunday, wrapping up a stretch of three contests over six days, when they host Long Beach State at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center at 2 p.m.