SAN FRANCISCO — It’s early in the season, but the Washington State women’s basketball team found out quickly that its hard to play from behind. Thankfully, the Cougars have one of the country’s best players in junior guard Charlisse Leger-Walker.

Leger-Walker finished with a career-high 35 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, as the Cougars erased a 15-point halftime deficit in beating San Francisco 69-63 in a nonconference game at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

Senior post Bella Murekatete added 16 points and seven rebounds for Washington State (2-0), which went 16-for-29 (55.1 percent) from the field in the second half. It was the fourth-largest comeback in program history.

“I thought it was a gritty performance in the second half,” WSU coach Kamie Ethridge said. “It was really good to see our team respond the way that we did. This is why you play these teams, go on the road, play different styles, so that you’re prepared for what’s going to happen later in the season.”

Debora Dos Santos tallied 16 points and seven rebounds for the Dons (1-1), who went 9-for-33 (27.2 percent) from the field in the final 20 minutes. Ioanna Krimili added 14 points. Loren Christie finished with 12 points. Kennedy Dickie chipped in 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Cougars found themselves down 38-23 at intermission and trailed 48-36 with 3:16 left in the third. WSU scored the final five points of the quarter and headed to the fourth down seven.

After San Francisco scored just eight seconds into the quarter, the Cougars then had a 15-0 run, with Leger-Walker scoring seven points and Murekatete six points, as they took a 56-50 advantage with 5:51 to go. The Dons never got closer.

WSU next plays at noon Saturday at home against Prairie View A&M.

WASHINGTON STATE (2-0)

Leger-Walker 11-26 9-10 35, Murekatete 7-11 2-2 16, Motuga 3-7 1-2 7, Wallack 1-6 2-4 4, Teder 0-1 0-0 0, Tuhina 3-10 0-2 7, Sarver 0-2 0-2 0, Nankervis 0-1 0-0 0, Woods 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-65 14-22 69.

SAN FRANCISCO (1-1)

Krimili 4-17 6-6 14, Dickie 3-9 4-4 11, McDowell-White 3-6 0-0 8, Vaalavirta 0-1 2-2 2, Baum 0-4 0-0 0, Dos Santos 7-13 2-2 16, Christie 5-9 0-2 12, Gayles 0-4 0-0 0, Hernandez 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-64 14-16 63.

Washington State 12 11 18 28—69

San Francisco 15 23 10 15—63

3-point goals — Washington State 5-25 (Leger-Walker 4-12, Tuhina 1-6, Teder 0-1, Sarver 0-1, Woods 0-1, Motuga 0-2, Wallack 0-2), San Francisco 5-15 (McDowell-White 2-4, Christie 2-4, Dickie 1-2, Baum 0-1, Gayles 0-1, Hernandez 0-1, Krimili 0-2). Rebounds — Washington State 43 (Murekatete, Motuga, Wallack 7), San Francisco 43 (Dickie 11). Assists — Washington State 11 (Leger-Walker 4), San Francisco 13 (Krimili 4). Total fouls — Washington State 17, San Francisco 22. A — 143.

CROSS COUNTRYUI, WSU women stand out at West Regional

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — The Idaho and Washington State women’s cross country teams had top finishes at the NCAA West Regional at Chambers Bay Golf Course.

The Vandals placed 10th out of 35 teams with 319 points, behind meet champion Stanford’s 76. The Cougars were 12th with 353 points.

Idaho junior Kelsey Swenson had the region’s top finish with a 6K time of 19 minutes, 37.1 seconds to finish 11th. WSU sophomore Alaina Stone-Boggs took 14th in 19:38.5.

The Cougars were 12th out of 31 men’s teams with 415 points, behind meet champion Stanford’s 45. The Vandals were 16th with 488 points.

WSU sophomore Brian Barsaiya had the area’s best time, coming in at 29:20.1 in the 10K race to finish 39th. Idaho sophomore Lorenz Hermann placed 66th in 29:56.2.

MEN

Team scores — 1. Stanford 45; 2. Gonzaga 92; 3. Washington 105; 4. Oregon 141; 5. California Baptist 145; 6. Boise State 146; 7. Portland 156; 8. Cal Poly 198; 9. Santa Clara 235; 10. UCLA 281; 11. Portland State 300; 12. Washington State 415; 13. Loyola Marymount 423; 14. Arizona 476; 15. UC Santa Barbara 480; 16. Idaho 488; 17. UC Riverside 508; 18. Arizona State 537; 19. Fullerton 546; 20. UC Irvine 569; 21. California 618; 22. UC Davis 662; 23. Eastern Washington 678; 24. San Francisco 683; 25. Saint Mary’s (Calif.) 705; 26. Long Beach State 727; 27. Northridge 767; 28. Sacramento State 799; 29. San Diego 811; 30. Pepperdine 824; 31. Seattle 846.

Individual — Brian Fay (Washington) 28:17.2.

WSU individuals — 39. Brian Barsaiya 29:20.1; 88. Kelvin Limo 30:16.6 ; 92. Leif Swanson 30:19.9; 94. Turlan Morlan 30:22.2; 110. Jacob Easton 30:46.3; 174. Grayson Wilcott 31:53.6; 184. Kyle Ortega-Gammill 32:05.2.

Idaho individuals — 66. Lorenz Hermann 29:56.2; 76. Gabriel Dinnel 30:03.8; 108. Sam Fulbright 30:45.0; 112. Tim Stevens 30:47.7; 135. Cruz Flores 31:10.3; 151. Tyler Graff 31:29.7; 209. Shea Mattson 3:19.6.

WOMEN

Team scores — 1. Stanford 76; 2. Oregon 96; 3. Washington 114; 4. Oregon State 150; 5. California Baptist 150; 6. Boise State 159; 7. Gonzaga 230; 8. San Francisco 258; 9. Portland 292; 10. Idaho 319; 11. Cal Poly 342; 12. Washington State 353; 13. UCLA 368; 14. UC Irvine 398; 15. UC Davis 402; 16. Portland State 403; 17. UC Santa Barbara 449; 18. Santa Clara 515; 19. Saint Mary’s (Calif.) 546; 20. Arizona 551; 21. Grand Canyon 567; 22. Fullerton 568; 23. California 674; 24. Eastern Washington 705; 25. Long Beach State 711; 26. San Diego State 763; 27. Arizona State 763; 28. UC Riverside 764; 29. Sacramento State 847; 30. Hawaii 899; 31. San Diego 957; 32. Loyola Marymount 999; 33. Pepperdine 1,010; 34. Northridge 1,044; 35. UNLV 1,075.

Individual — Kaylee Mitchell (Oregon State) 19:19.2.

Idaho individuals — 11. Kelsey Swenson 19:37.1; 50. Maya Kobylanski 20:16.9; Katja Pattis 20:27.6; 74. Nathalia Campos 20:36.4; 121. Leah Holmgren 21:15.6; 134. Abigail Thomas 21:21.0; 171. Elise Abbott 21:49.7.

WSU individuals — 14. Alaina Stone Boggs 19:38.5; 51. Neema Kimtai 20:18.2; 53. Caroline Jerotich 20:21.2; 93. Pietra Da Silva 20:49.3; 143. Samantha Boyle 21:27.9; 155. Mevin Jelagat 21:32.7; 201. Elena Miezava 22:17.9.

VOLLEYBALLWSU rolls past Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. — Senior outside hitter Pia Timmer tallied 13 kills as the Washington State volleyball team beat Arizona State 25-23, 25-22, 25-22 in a Pac-12 Conference match at Desert Financial Arena.

Timmer finished with a .357 attack percentage for the Cougars (18-8, 10-5), who have won six of their past six matches. Senior middle blocker Magda Jehlarova had 11 kills with a .389 attack percentage and eight total blocks. Junior setter Argentina Ung contributed 38 assists and senior outside hitter Laura Jansen chipped in 12 digs.

The Cougars play their final road game of the season at 10 a.m. Sunday at Arizona.

SWIMMINGIdaho 204, Seattle 89

MOSCOW — Idaho’s swimming team won 10 of 16 events in beating Seattle in a Western Athletic Conference dual meet at the UI Swim Center.

Freshman Grace Ruble and senior Alexa Teneyck each won a pair of individual events. Ruble took the 400 individual medley in a time of 4:32.80 and the 100 butterfly in 57.46 seconds. Teneyck was first in the 200 freestyle in 1:56.97 and the 500 free in 5:14.09.

The Vandals’ diving team next competes Thursday-Nov. 19 at the Lumberjack Diving Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz., and the rest of the swim team next competes Dec. 2-4 in the Vandal Invite.