SEATTLE – Usually, the best game of a tournament comes on the final day, but that may not be the case with the Basketball Travelers Husky Classic this weekend.
Washington (1-2), which will make its home debut after opening with three games on the road, will meet 5-0 Saint Louis in today’s first-round game at 3 p.m. at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The first game, at 12:30 p.m., pits 2-2 Miami of Ohio against 0-3 Northern Iowa.
The title game will be Sunday at 3 p.m., preceded by the third-place game at 12:30.
Though Saint Louis has the best record, Washington is probably the favorite as it has won its own tournament 12 times in 19 years, including a win over Rice for the championship last season.
Overall, Washington has won its past five home openers, but Saint Louis will certainly pose some problems. With five wins, the Billikens have already almost matched their total of last season, when they won just seven.
Saint Louis is getting it done with a balanced offense that averages 82 points behind five double-figure scorers. Three of those players are freshmen, including two true freshmen, guards Theresa Lisch (17 points a game) and Katie Paganelli (13 points a game). Another guard Rachel Diener, is a top outside shooter and averages 10.8 points. Saint Louis also has some size, with 6-1 Tyler McIlwraith averaging 16.4 points and 6-4 Amanda Kemezys averaging 11.2.
The Billikens are coached by Shimmy Gray-Miller, who spent three seasons on June Daugherty’s staff at Washington and also was an assistant with the Seattle Storm and Bellevue Community College.
Saint Louis’ aggressive defense will challenge a Washington offense that has struggled, averaging just 64 points on 31 percent shooting and turning it over 20 time a game. It doesn’t help that center Andrea Plouffe, averaging 11 points and 6.5 rebounds, is day-to-day with patellar tendinitis. She was the MVP of the Husky Classic last year.
In Plouffe’s place, senior Jill Bell has stepped up after being limited with injuries last season. She had a double-double against Eastern Washington and now averages 10.3 points and 8.0 rebounds. Cameo Hicks, as expected, leads the Huskies in scoring at 15 points a game and is 16 points away from 1,000 for her career.
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