PULLMAN – A rough shooting performance in the second and third quarters doomed the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Monday night as they fell in a non-conference matchup with the Washington State Cougars 61-41.

SDSU shot 4-for-25 combined in the second and third quarters and were outscored by the Cougars 36-13. With the lead swelling up to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter, the Jackrabbits had dug themselves a large hole and couldn’t find their way out.

“We were just bad offensively,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said of his team’s performance. “I thought late in the game, just that lack of ability to score is just so draining…We’ve got to figure out a way to play much better offensively and I don’t have a reason for it today.”

The rough stretch overshadowed some of the good things SDSU did in the loss including a fast start in the first quarter. The first seven minutes of the game were dominated by the Jackrabbits and shot 6-for-13 while racing out to a 14-3 lead.

SDSU took a 16-8 lead into the second quarter but that’s where the shooting woes began. The Jackrabbits finished the first quarter 1-of-5 shooting and missed all 10 shot attempts in the second quarter. The Cougars were able to take advantage of the cold performance and get back into the game, taking a 21-19 lead into halftime.

“I think Washington State played us differently than some of the other teams we’ve played,” Johnston said. “We’ve been facing a ton of pressure and those decisions, even though they’re hard when you’re being pressured, they’re obvious. This was a game where they really tried to keep everything in front of them and I thought we showed a lot of tentativness offensively and passed up a ton of shots by shooters who need to make those shots. I thought that hurt us and just kind of took some confidence away.”

The Cougars took control of the game in the third quarter, outsourcing the Jackrabbits 23-10 while SDSU shot just 4-for-15 from the floor. While the Jackrabbits were able to find something offensively in the fourth quarter, it was too late to mount a comeback.

The positive for the Jackrabbits is that shooting was the only issue that kept them from winning the game. SDSU was outrebounded 41-36 and committed 13 turnovers to Washington State’s 12.

“They’re all within our control,” Senior Paiton Burckhard said of the factors that contributed to the loss. “We started off with good rebounds, getting shots we wanted so that’s one positive thing to look at it. We just have to make sure we’re taking advantage of the things we can control.”

Johnston echoed Burckhard’s observations after the game, noting that the Jackrabbits can’t let one loss turn into two.

“We’ve had so many good opportunities this year,” Johnston said. “We’ve taken advantage of some of them and then we haven’t taken advantage of all of them. That’s really what a season boils down to. How many opportunities can you string together to have the kind of year you want to have? This next game is that next opportunity and you don’t want one loss to turn into two, but we’ll have to play better.”

Maya Selland led SDSU with seven points while Tori Nelson had six points with eight rebounds. Haleigh Timmer, Paiton Burckhard and Madysen Vlastuin had five points each. Brooklyn Meyer also had seven rebounds for the Jackrabbits.

Johanna Teder led Washington State with 17 points while Bella Murekatete scored 15 points with 11 rebounds on the night. Charlisse Leger-Walker (13 points, five rebounds) and Tara Wallack (10 points, four rebounds) also scored in double figures for the Cougars.