By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Last year at this time, all Washington guard Kristen O’Neill had to worry about was Monroe, Arlington and the rest of the Wesco 3A.
Now, with the Pacific-10 Conference season starting tonight, O’Neill not only faces the prospect of clashing with some of the greatest college basketball teams in the country, she also, as a true freshman, has been put in the position to start against them.
“I’m really excited for the Pac-10s to start,” said O’Neill, from Meadowdale High School. “It’s going to be a big test for us, but I feel we’re ready for it. Being in the starting lineup is an incredible honor for me, and I’m going to do everything I can to work as hard as I can to help the team.”
Tonight’s game against Washington State at Hec Edmundson Pavilion marks O’Neill’s third start of the season, after Gioconda Mendiola suffered a stress fracture in a foot that may shelve her for weeks. That means the Huskies (5-4) will rely on O’Neill, a 6-foot-1 guard, to play like anything but a freshman – to avoid passivity, to play fearlessly, to hit shots when they’re open.
On paper, it appears O’Neill has made the transition to big-time college basketball. She’s hitting 42.5 percent of her shots, including 5-for-11 from 3-point range. She also is making up for her lack of experience with hustle on both ends of the floor.
“It was a bit of a transition at first, because the game is so much faster and so much more physical,” O’Neill said. “Just going hard and competing every day in practice has really helped me. Just the way our whole team has stepped it up in practice has really helped me make the transition. I’m not too worried about it right now.”
Although O’Neill professes to be a lifelong Husky fan and has the added benefit of having her sister, forward Kellie O’Neill, in her third year in the UW program, no one, really, can give a freshman an accurate description of life on the Pac-10. Yes, the Huskies played a challenging preseason schedule, one that included Big Ten teams Wisconsin and Michigan, but the Pac-10 offers few breaks all season long.
“With some of the teams we’ve played in the preseason, I think (freshmen) get a feel for how it’s going to be,” said junior guard Loree Payne, the Huskies’ top scorer at 14.2 points a game. “The biggest thing is that every night, you’ve got to bring it. The Pac-10 Conference is so tough that every night, you have to give everything that you have. That’s what we’re trying to do in practice, to bring it up for the 18-game Pac-10 season, to bring energy and intensity every single night.”
Although the Cougars (2-8) have lost their last five games, they have aspects that could give Washington trouble. Center Brittney Hawks notched her sixth double-double of the season Saturday, with 21 points and 11 rebounds in WSU’s 75-68 loss to Montana State.
Guard Francine McCurtain is 27-for-68 shooting (39.7 percent) from 3-point range and has 16 steals.
“Washington State is a team that has a lot of new players,” UW coach June Daugherty said. “They’re a lot more athletic than they’ve been in the past. They’re getting good productivity from their front line on the offensive and defensive end of the floor. They’re dangerous.”
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