SEATTLE – The Washington Huskies, as young as they are, will remember Friday night’s 74-70 loss to third-ranked Texas Tech.
They’ll remember going scoreless in the last 1:55. They’ll remember getting mauled on the board, especially in the second half.
Most of all, they’ll remember their maximum effort for 40 minutes against a great team and falling just short in front of 4,671 screaming fans at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
“We battled like warriors,” UW coach June Daugherty said.
Their defense in full attack mode, the Huskies (6-2) did just about everything right. They roughed up All-America candidate Jia Perkins into a sub-par night. They forced one of the nation’s elite teams into 36-percent shooting from the floor, 28 percent in the second half, and went toe-to-toe with a squad that beat them 99-67 a year ago in Lubbock, Texas.
“As much as it hurts, we will learn from this,” said guard Giuliana Mendiola, who led all scorers with 27 points.
The biggest lesson: Box somebody out.
The Red raiders whipped Washington on the boards, 49-38. Ten of Texas Tech forward Casey Jackson’s 16 rebounds were on the offensive end. Six of Cisti Greenwalt’s boards were the same. The Red Raiders had 25 offensive rebounds, too many going for points. Nineteen offensive boards came in the second half.
“It’s one area where we felt we could hurt them,” Tech coach Marsha Sharp said. “Casey is just relentless, and we thought we had people who maybe had longer arms and could gain an advantage.”
Still, the game came down to the last two minutes, with Washington gaining a 70-66 lead.
Jackson scored a layup off a slick pass by point guard Erin Grant to cut the UW lead to 70-68 with 1:14 remaining. After Washington couldn’t score on its next possession, Grant was fouled hard by Angie Jones and had to leave the game.
Sharp, as smart as her name, replaced Grant with Natalie Ritchie, an 85-percent free-throw shooter, who buried both for a 70-all tie.
UW post Andrea Lalum missed a 3-pointer with 39 second left, and Texas Tech called time with 23.5 remaining.
Grant drove the lane and hit a 10-foot jumper with 11.2 seconds left for a 72-70 advantage. Mendiola tried to respond with a drive down the lane, but lost the ball with 1.5 seconds remaining. Chesley Dabbs hit two free throws for the final margin.
“I was headed for whatever was open, either a shot or a drive or a pass,” Mendiola said. “But I fumbled the ball, which is disappointing.”
Texas Tech took a 39-38 lead at intermission after trailing the majority of the well-played first half.
The Huskies, showing absolutely none of the boredom they showed Tuesday night against Denver, used their high-pressure defense and Lalum’s otherworldly shooting accuracy to lead most of the time before the half. Lalum scored 13 points, nailing all three of her 3-point attempts. She finished with 15.
Mendiola hit just one of her first seven shots, but came on in the latter stages of the half to score 10 points, eight in the last six minutes.
Perkins, an All-America candidate at guard, led the Red Raiders with 14 first-half points on 7-of-10 shooting. She finished with 18.
Greenwalt, a 6-5 junior, came off the bench to score 13 points and grabbed five first-half rebounds. She also had a hand in slowing down Lalum, at least, as well as anyone could.
But the Huskies largely shut down Perkins and Greenwalt in the second half. Daugherty traded around three Huskies on Perkins – Gioconda Mendiola, along with Jones, a redshirt freshman, and true freshman Cameo Hicks. In the second half, Perkins scored two points on 1-of-8 shooting from the floor.
The loss snapped an 18-game home win streak for Washington, but it was one in which may pay great dividends later.
“We know if we do what we’re supposed to do, we’re going to get positive results,” Lalum said. “But if one part of the wheel breaks down, that can cost us the game.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
