SEATTLE – It took awhile, but it seems the Washington women’s basketball team’s offense may have caught up with its defense and rebounding.
The Huskies continued their recent streak of relatively hot shooting and, combined with perhaps their most dominant rebounding night of the season, rolled to their fifth win in their past seven games.
Washington made 50 percent of its 3-pointers, including seven of 10 in the second half, and did not allow a second-chance point in defeating Arizona 91-73 Thursday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
The win was the third in a row for Washington over Arizona and gave the Huskies as many wins as they had all of last season.
It’s hard to tell what was more impressive for Washington, its shooting or rebounding. The Huskies shot 54.8 percent in the second half and five players reached double figures in points. But Washington also outrebounded the shorter Wildcats 39-20, including 16-3 on the offensive boards, and outscored Arizona 22-0 on second-chance points. The Wildcats were held without an offensive board in the first half, something UW coach June Daugherty said she doesn’t believe any team of hers has ever done.
“We focused on boxing out, not allowing second shots and the team has taken that to heart,” Daugherty said. “We’ve started to shoot the ball real well. I don’t want to jinx ourselves. We’ve got to keep that going. People stepped up big off the bench. It was just a real solid effort all the way around for our team.”
The Huskies had shot better than 45 percent just twice in their first 14 games, and went a stretch in which they did not shoot better than 44.1 percent for nine games. But in its last five games, Washington has shot at least 45.5 percent four times, including 47.8 percent against the Wildcats. Washington has scored at least 90 points twice in the last five games after not reaching that mark in its first 14 games.
Particularly improved has been the Huskies’ 3-point shooting. Prior to starting its recent hot streak against UCLA on Jan. 12, Washington had made just 41 3-pointers in its previous nine games, including seven in the three games leading up to the Bruins’ contest. In the last five games, Washington has made 42 3-pointers, including a season-best 52.9 percent (9-for-17) against Arizona.
“We’re pleased they’re starting to go in,” said senior Kristen O’Neill, who had a season-high 19 points, made 4-of-5 3-pointers and had five steals. “We’ve been working on our shooting a lot in practice and trying to get game-like shots up, going full speed so when we get looks in the game, we’re able to knock them down.”
The bench played a big role in Washington’s hot shooting, as reserves O’Neill and Cheri Craddock were each hot during a dominant 10-minute span of the second half. O’Neill took the game over for a two minute, 41-second stretch of the second half, scoring 12 points, including three 3-pointers, in that span. Craddock scored a career-high 16 points and is averaging 10 points in the last four games since seeing her role increase with the loss of Kayla Burt.
“Once you get out there, you get used to playing, you get in a rhythm, you shoot better and just relax,” said Craddock, who was 4-for-6 on 3-pointers in a season-high 20 minutes.
Washington led 40-30 at the beginning of the second half but Arizona cut the lead to two and trailed 44-42 after a Che Oh jump shot. But over the next nearly 10 minutes, Washington outscored Arizona 30-8, making five of its 3-pointers to open up a 74-50 lead.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
