SEATTLE — Getting taken out of the starting lineup didn’t sit well for University of Washington women’s basketball player Marjorie Heard on Wednesday night.
So she went out and did something about it.
After a horrendous start in UW’s exhibition game last week, and an equally subpar performance in last Friday’s season opener, Heard was benched for Wednesday night’s game against crosstown rival Seattle University. She responded by sparking a 13-0 run late in the first half to help the Huskies overcome a slow start, avoid an upset and give new head coach Kevin McGuff his first victory by way of a 72-53 win over the Redhawks.
While a bevy of offensive performers helped carry UW for most of the evening, it was Heard who snapped the Huskies out of some early doldrums with a short-but-sweet offensive outburst 15 minutes into the game. The former Glacier Peak High School star scored six of her eight points during a 13-point run that took UW (1-1) from down four points to a 36-25 lead in a span of 51/2 minutes.
“It tells you a lot about Marjie to start the first game, to be out of the starting lineup, and to come back and play really, really hard and give us some great minutes,” McGuff said. “That’s what competitive people do, and that’s what I want to see out of the kids in our program.”
In re-establishing themselves as Seattle’s best women’s college basketball team, the Huskies started slow but dominated the final 25 minutes. While senior post and leading scorer Regina Rogers struggled with triple-teams and foul trouble, several teammates had offensive breakouts to lead UW to its biggest win since Dec. 20 of last year — a 19-point victory over Western Michigan.
Sophomore guard Mercedes Wetmore had career highs of 16 points and three 3-pointers, while the freshman duo of Jazmine Davis and Aminah Williams continued to impress with a combined 26 points. Senior Mackenzie Argens just missed her second consecutive double-double, with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Rogers finished with six and eight, respectively, in 19 minutes of action.
With Jeneva Anderson replacing Heard in the starting lineup, the Huskies struggled out of the gates — particularly on the defensive end — and spotted Seattle U. (1-2) an early 19-12 lead. UW closed the gap to 27-23 with 6:25 remaining before scoring 13 unanswered points to take control. Heard hit a baseline jumper to tie the score at 27, added another short jumper for a 29-27 lead, then capped off the rally with a layup after Argens blocked a shot and provided the assist at the other end for a 36-27 lead with 24 seconds remaining in the first half.
Heard said she was inspired by being taken out of the starting lineup.
“Personally, I don’t think I’ve been playing my type of basketball,” said Heard, who combined for two total points on 1-for-8 shooting in the exhibition game and Friday’s season-opening loss to UC Davis. “I felt (Wednesday) was kind of that view of how I play basketball, with the physicalness and what I’m able to do. Starting or not, it’s just a matter of doing what I can do.”
UW extended its lead to 17, at 56-39, midway through the second half and led by double digits the rest of the way.
Ashley Ward led the Redhawks with 16 points. Leading scorer Talisa Rhea was held to six points, 12 below her season average, on 3-for-13 shooting.
“We just got a little flustered,” Ward said of SU losing its early lead and falling into a huge deficit. “We weren’t taking the shots we wanted to take.”
It marked the eighth consecutive time the Huskies have beaten SU. All but last year’s 58-53 win have been decided by double-digit figures.
In McGuff’s second game as head coach of the Huskies, the curiosity of UW women’s basketball still seemed yet to be fully piqued. An announced crowd of only 2,021 fans showed up to Hec Edmundson Pavilion, and about 200 of them were rooting for Seattle U.
“This obviously is a very passionate town for women’s basketball,” McGuff said, “and I think in time — sooner, rather than later — we’ll continue to grow the crowds. It’s certainly a big point of emphasis for how we want to make this program special.”
Notes
Both teams stayed on the court for a halftime ceremony honoring former UW women’s basketball player Melissa Erickson, who is now bound to a wheelchair because of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — more commonly known as ALS. Erickson, who was a member of the Huskies’ NCAA Elite Eight team in 2001, received a five-minute standing ovation while surrounded by friends and family members. … Senior Mollie Williams, who played just two seconds in last week’s opener because of what the team is calling a concussion, was forced into extended action Wednesday because of teammates’ foul trouble. She checked into the game 61/2 minutes into the second half and grabbed one rebound in three minutes of action.
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