After the Wildcats’ fourth straight loss came in the game against Washington State by a score of 78-68, women’s basketball coach Niya Butts said mental mistakes have been a problem area, especially against the Cougars.

“I thought we played harder to today but we still made silly mistakes,” Butts said in a press release. “We made poor, poor decisions.”

Butts cited the Wildcats’ 23 turnovers and the giving up of 16 offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points as primary reasons for their downfall.

After opening the season with a 10-year best record of 11-1, Arizona’s recent swoon has dropped them to 13-8 on the season, and alone at the bottom of the Pac-12 with a 2-7 conference record.

“We need to keep fighting,” Butts said. “We’re not that far away and we have to keep pushing.”

The Wildcats started off the game with a 10-9 lead after a 3-pointer by junior guard Davellyn Whyte, but that was the last time they would lead in the game. With 8:17 remaining, the Wildcats trailed 57-51, and that’s the closest the game would get.

“We played better down the stretch defensively but we didn’t finish our defense,” Butts said. “We didn’t have that second effort when we needed it and we gave into fatigue.”

For Washington State, senior guard Jazmine Perkins paced the Cougars with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds, four assists and seven steals.

Arizona center Aley Rohde had one of her better games of her freshman season in the loss, leading all scorers with 15 points to go with five rebounds and one blocked shot. Junior Davellyn Whyte’s shooting struggles continued, as she shot 4-of-9 from the field. Whyte still finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, to go along with five assists and six steals.

The Wildcats return to Tucson this weekend to take on Pac-12 powerhouses California and fourth-ranked Stanford.