COLLEGE ROUNDUP: Cougar Collective becomes official WSU Athletics partner

COLLEGE ROUNDUP

Washington State Athletics announced the Cougar Collective as its official name, image and likeness partner.

Founded in February 2022, the Cougar Collective has connected WSU student-athletes with NIL opportunities. The deals helped WSU athletic programs — primarily football — recruit and retain student athletes, including former Cougar quarterback Cam Ward.

“There is great synergy between WSU Athletics and the Cougar Collective as both seek to enhance the student-athlete experience through unique opportunities outside the field of competition,” WSU athletic director Anne McCoy said. “We appreciate all the Cougar Collective has done, and continues to do, to benefit our student-athletes, coaches and programs.”

Following the signing of Washington Senate Bill 5913 in June, universities in Washington were allowed to assist student athletes with procuring NIL opportunities and collaborate with organizations such as the Cougar Collective out in the open, through collaborative social media posts and co-hosted events, which the Collective and WSU football and men’s basketball programs hosted throughout the fall.

MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

LC State 93, Warner Pacific 65

The Lewis-Clark State men’s basketball team took control early and kept its foot on the gas to upend Warner Pacific University 93-65 on Friday at their home court in the P1FCU Activity Center.

The Warriors (16-5, 11-4) shot 55% from the field and had five score in double-digits in the contest.

MaCarhy Morris led all scoreres with 19 points. It was a career night for Jayceon Smith, who totaled 17, while John Lustig (12), Kasen Carpenter (12) and Alton Hamilton (11) rounded out the big scorers for LCSC. Peyton Knowles made an impact in his first career start with six rebounds and three assists.

“Good team win. All 10 guys contributed and had an impact,” coach Austin Johnson said. “What really won the game was our defense in the first half. Things ended sloppy for us, but in the first half we were really guarding and shrinking the court which was awesome to see. It allowed us to get out in transition a bit and get a bit of a cushion. We will need to be even better tomorrow against a physical and high-level Multnomah team.”

WARNER PACIFIC (10-10, 5-10)

Sparks 6-11 1-3 13, Dickey 0-3 4-4 4, Warren 1-7 0-0 2, Mekkam 1-5 0-0 2, Salim 0-2 0-0 0, Perez-La Costa 8-0 0-0 19, Cason 4-6 4-6 13, Savery 2-7 0-0 5, Oestereich 2-4 0-0 4, Baker 1-3 1-1 3. Totals 25-57 10-14 65.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (16-5, 11-4)

Morris 7-14 3-3 19, Lustig 5-8 2-2 12, Hamilton 4-5 3-6 11, King 2-7 0-0 6, Knowles 1-1 0-0 2, Smith 6-9 5-9 17, Carpenter 4-9 0-0 12, Nordland 2-3 2-2 8, Boykins 1-3 1-2 3, Jedlicka 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 33-60 16-24 93.

Halftime — LCSC 43, WP 20. 3-point goals — LCSC 11-24 (Carpenter 4-9, King 2-6, Morris 2-3, Nordland 2-3, Jedlicka 1-1, Smith 0-1, Boykins 0-1), WP 5-17 (Perez-La Costa 3-4, Savery 1-2, Cason 1-1, Sparks 0-3, Dickey 0-2, Warrne 0-2, Mekkam 0-2, Salim 0-1). Rebounds — LCSC 38 (Hamilton 8), WP 28 (Salim 6). Assists — LCSC 16 (Smith 4), WP 2 (Salim, Perez-La Costa 1). Total fouls — LCSC 14, WP 22. Attendance — 789.

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

LC State 65, Warner Pacific 29

The Lewis-Clark State defense was on full display as the No. 24 Warrior women held Warner Pacific to just 29 points.

The Warriors did not allow double-digit points in any quarter, keeping their foes to only five in first. Payton Hymas led LCSC (17-4, 11-4 Cascade Conference) with a career-high 21 points.

“I really enjoyed the way our team defended tonight,” LC coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “Holding them under 10 points each quarter was fantastic defense, and we did an excellent job on the glass as well.”

After Warner Pacific scored the first two points of the contest, LC State scored 19 straight for a commanding 19-2 lead. The Knights hit a 3 to cap the scoring in the frame.

WPU tallied the first basket of the second quarter before the Warriors scored nine to make it 28-7 at 3:53. Another triple by the Knights had the margin at 20 before baskets by Mataya Green, Ellie Sander and Kendall Wallace helped close out the half with LC State in front 36-13.

Hymas sparked a short run of six and Wallace nailed a 3 to make it 45-18 at 2:09. Sitara Byrd and Grace Beardin each found the basket for a 49-22 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes.

Warner Pacific scored just seven points in the fourth quarter. A bucket by Darian Herring started a scoring stretch of 12 and Keira O’Neill ended the game with a free throw.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (17-4, 11-4)

Hymas 8-13 3-3 21, Herring 4-5 0-0 8, Byrd 3-7 0-0 6, Green 3-13 0-0 6, Sander 2-11 0-0 4, Brager 2-6 0-0 6, Wallace 2-6 0-0 5, Wilson 1-2 2-4 4, Beardin 2-5 0-2 4, O’Neill 0-0 1-2 1, Barger 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-4 0-0 0, Firnkoess 0-0 0-0 0, Karlberg 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 27-74 6-13 65.

WARNER PACIFIC (7-14, 4-11)

Fortin 1-8 2-2 4, Groesbeck 1-7 1-1 3, Sales 1-7 0-0 2, Tonkin 0-3 0-0 0, Mee 0-3 0-0 0, Barbee 5-11 1-2 12, Campbell 1-6 0-0 3, Brooks 1-4 1-2 3, Saunders 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 11-53 5-7 29.

Warner Pacific 5 8 9 7—29

LC State 19 17 13 16—65

3-point goals — WPU 2-17 (Fortin 0-2, Sales 0-4, Tonkin 0-2, Barbee 1-1, Campbell 1-6 Brooks 0-2) LCSC 5-29 (Hymas 2-5, Byrd 0-3, Sander 0-6, Brager 2-5, Wallace 1-5, Beardin 0-2, Nelson 0-2, Karlberg 0-1). Assists — WPU 7 (Fortin 2, Saunders 2) LCSC 19 (Byrd 6) Fouled out — None. Rebounds — WPU 37 (Mee 6, Barbee 6) LCSC 56 (Green 11). Total Fouls — WPU 12 LCSC 11. Technical Fouls — None. Attendance — 777.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Warriors drop back-to-back games

AUBURNDALE, FLA. — The traveling Warriors lost both legs of an East/West Challenge doubleheader, falling 12-10 to St. Thomas and 3-2 to Southeastern.

LC State (1-2) led early against St. Thomas, but gave up a disastrous seven-run third inning, and its own six-run rally in the ninth fell short. The Warriors built a 2-0 lead through five against the Fire, but gave up three in the final two frames to let the game slip through their fingers.

Brandon Cabrera and Charlie Updegrave blasted home runs in the first game to highlight the Warriors’ outing on the offensive end.

Lewis-Clark State 003 100 006—10 10 1

St. Thomas 001 720 20x—12 17 0

Jantzen Lucas, Landon Webb (4), Zak Sullivan (5), Zachary Allegro (8) and Jakob Marquez; J. Fernandez, C. Avery (7), J. Leyva (9), S. Bencosme (9) and E. Novoa.

W — Fernandez; L — Lucas

LCSC hits — N. Weintraub 4 (2 2B), B. Cabrera 2 (HR, 2B), G. Bevacqua 2 (2B), I. George, C. Updegrave (HR).

St. Thomas hits — I. Martinez 3 (2 2B), E. Ballenill 3 (2B), L. Lopez 3, E. Novoa 3, K. Ayala 2, A. Piloto, D. Biegel, B. Pazos.

———

LCSC 000 011 000—2 3 0

Southeastern 000 000 021—3 7 1

Jadon Williamson, Jace Taylor (8) and Bulla Ephan; C. Muir, B. McDonald (5) and C. Hicks.

W — McDonald; L — Taylor.

LCSC hits — Updegrave, Affholter (2B), Ephan.

Southeastern hits — N. Streuer, C. Hicks (HR), M. White, A. Villalobo, J. Gumieny, S. Kaelber (2B), J. Pennella.

WOMEN’S COLLEGE TENNIS

Washington State 4, BYU 3

PULLMAN — Eva Alvarez Sande, Maxine Murphy and Elyse Tse posted straight-sets wins in the top three singles matches to lead Washington State to a closely contested nonconference team dual victory over visiting Brigham Young University (Utah).

No. 5 singles player Martina Puvill clinched the overall win for the Cougs (6-1), rallying from a set down to defeat BYU’s Maddy Smith 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.

Doubles — Bobo Huang/Grace Levelston, BYU, def. Eva Alvarez Sande/Maxine Murphy 6-3; Elyse Tse/Chisato Kanemaki, WSU, def. Kendall Kovick/Chelsea Bluestein 7-6 (5); Maddy Smith/Hiba Heni, BYU, def. Hania Abouelsaad/Martina Markov 7-6 (3).

Singles — Eva Alvarez Sande, WSU, def. Bobo Huang 6-1, 6-4; Maxine Murphy, WSU, def. Grace Levelston 6-2, 7-5; Elyse Tse, WSU, def. Kendall Kovick 7-5, 7-5; Chelsea Bluestein, BYU, def. Hania Abouelsaad 7-6 (5), 6-2; Martina Puvill, WSU, def. Maddy Smith 4-6, 6-0, 6-4; Sue Yan Tan, BYU, def. Martina Markov 7-6 (3), 7-5.

Montana 7, Lewis-Clark State 0

The Warriors suffered a nonconference defeat to visiting Division I foe Montana.

LC State (0-3) took one doubles set courtesy of Rayana Shah and Luciana Marzani, but lost the overall doubles point. The Warriors were swept in singles, though LCSC No. 1 Heidi Moyo forced an opening-set tiebreak and No. 4 Beatriz Lambru took the set of her match before ultimately falling 10-8 in a down-to-the-wire deciding super-tiebreak.

All three of LCSC’s team duals so far this season have been against larger-division opponents.

Singles — Rosie Sterk, UM, def. Heidi Moyo 7-6 (3), 6-0; Piper Freeman, UM, def. Rayana Shah 6-2, 6-3; Katie Prichard, UM, def. Naia Montero 6-1, 7-5; Monika Fizova, UM, def. Beatriz Lambru 4-6, 6-4, 10-8; Shirika Agarwal, UM, def. Paige Noble-Lucas 6-2, 6-3; Olivia Moir, UM, def. Gwyn Heim 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles — Sterk/Agarwal, UM, def. Buckingham/Moyo 6-1; Prichard/Fizova, UM, def. Govea/Lambru 6-2; Moir/Freeman, UM, def. Noble-Lucas/Montero 6-1; Shah/Marzani, LCSC, def. unknown/unknown 6-2.

COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD

Lawyer breaks WSU record

Junior Mason Lawyer’s time of 20.78 seconds in the 200-meter dash broke a 34-year-old program record, while WSU captured five other events to highlight Friday’s action at the University of Washington Invite in Seattle and New Mexico Team Open in Albuquerque, N.M.

Ethan Willems won the Men’s 400 with a personal-best of 46.51 seconds. Willems now holds the third-best 400 meter time in WSU indoor history.

At the UW Invite, the Cougars captured four event wins as Evans Kurui, Eli Lawrence, Micaela De Mello and A.J. McGloflin each continued strong starts to their indoor seasons.

Kurui took home the victory in the Men’s 3,000, finishing at 7:48.44, four seconds better than the second place finisher with the third best time in program history. In the men’s jigh jump, sophomore A.J. McGloflin won with a height of 2.14 meters. The height was a personal-best for McGloflin as he was the only jumper to clear seven feet.

Brazil native Micaela De Mello won the 60-meter hurdles final with a time of 8.16 seconds, outrunning her opponents by half a second.

The Cougs’ Eli Lawrence notched a distance of 15.66 meters to take home the crown in the men’s triple jump.

COLLEGE SWIMMING

WSU 205, Idaho 57

PULLMAN — The Cougars outswam the Vandals in a Battle of the Palouse conducted at Gibb Pool.

WSU recorded six pool records in the contest to improve to 7-0 for the first time in program history.

Anna Rauchholz, Lundgren, Dori Hathazi and Emma Wright set pool records in the 400 medley relay while junior All-American Emily Lundgren broke the 100 breast and 200 IM and freshman Darcy Revitt notched pool records in the 100 free and the opening 50 free of the 200 free relay. The Cougars claimed 13 of the 14 events.