SEATTLE – The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight struck again.
Or rather, didn’t strike. Anything. Not even close.
Guarded or unguarded, the University of Washington women’s basketball team came up empty Friday night in the shooting department. In a 62-52 Pacific-10 Conference loss to USC at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, the Huskies shot 30.6 from the floor (19-of-62) and were just 11-for-23 from the free-throw line.
End of story.
“The thing to me was the free throws,” UW coach June Daugherty said. “We had a lot of opportunities to get back in the game late. But you’ve got to be able to hit some shots, especially at the line.”
Washington fell to 2-3 in conference play, 6-9 overall. The Women of Troy are 3-1 and 9-4.
A 14-0 USC run midway through the second half gave the Trojans a 45-37 lead, one they would never give up, with 8:48 remaining. In that four-minute stretch, Washington was 0-for-6 shooting and committed three turnovers. And for one of the few times in the game, the Huskies became lax on defense.
“We called two times during the run and we just felt like we stepped down with our intensity,” Daugherty said. “They just seemed like they were hitting every shot and they had the answer.”
In the decisive run, freshman guard Brynn Cameron buried a pair of 3-pointers, while point guard Camille LeNoir added one. Cameron led all scorers with 19 points, hitting half her 10 attempts from 3-point range. LeNoir, also a freshman, added 17 points.
Although the Huskies went on a 7-0 run of their own immediately afterward, USC slowly pulled away the rest of the game.
“We’ve got a young team and we’ve got a team that, right now, is believing in itself,” USC coach Mark Trakh said. “We just told the kids, ‘Just hang in there. Hang around until the last four minutes and anything can happen.’”
Despite the fact that the Huskies were playing their fifth game in 11 days and had one day of practice to prepare for the game, UW guard Kayla Burt said fatigue wasn’t a factor in the contest, which, at times, resembled rugby.
“I don’t think fatigue was a factor,” Burt said. “I just think that at times, there were lapses. We weren’t getting our box-outs and just down the stretch we weren’t clutch.”
USC won, despite shooting 34 percent from the floor and committing 24 turnovers. Yet, the Women of Troy took advantage of two weak points in Washington’s game. The Huskies are ninth in the Pac-10 in shooting percentage, ahead of only Washington State. Plus, the Huskies are dead-last in rebounding margin. USC led the way on the boards, 50-40.
“They have athletic girls and when you miss a box-out, you let one of those girls get in there and they will get the easy basket,” said forward Breanne Watson, who led Washington with 12 points. “Rebounding was a big factor tonight.”
With 13 first-half points, Cameron supplied the offense for the Trojans, who were sloppy with the ball to the tune of 14 turnovers.
It was Washington’s defense that bailed the Huskies out, as Washington scored 10 points off USC turnovers.
Cameron nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull USC to a 25-all tie at the half. Before that, Washington held USC to just a field goal in the last six minutes, which the Huskies used for a 9-2 run.
It doesn’t get easier for Washington as conference-leading UCLA comes to town Sunday.
Elsewhere
No. 8 Stanford 68, Arizona State 57: At Tempe, Ariz., Candice Wiggins had season highs of 31 points and six assists, leading the Cardinal to a victory over the Sun Devils.
Wiggins also matched her personal best with six steals, turning five into rally-killing layups.
No. 22 UCLA 89, Washington St. 69: At Pullman, Wash., Junior Lisa Willis scored a season-high 25 points, leading the Bruins to a victory over Washington State.
Emma Joneby had 12 points and 12 rebounds for WSU.
Arizona 80, California 69: At Tucson, Ariz., Dee-Dee Wheeler had 19 points and eight assists as Arizona rode a lopsided first half to a win over California.
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