SEATTLE – The regular season ended in the most predictable of ways for the Washington women’s basketball team. Indeed, it was a virtual blueprint of how the entire year went for the Huskies.
As seemingly has been the case in nearly every victory this season, Washington overcame poor shooting with outstanding offensive rebounding and pressure defense to defeat Oregon 61-46 in front of 3,043 fans on Senior Day Saturday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
With the win, Washington clinched at least a tie for fourth place in the Pac-10. USC is a half-game behind the Huskies entering today’s game against Stanford. But regardless of the outcome of that game, Washington will meet the Trojans at 7:15 p.m. Saturday in a quarterfinal Pac-10 Tournament game in San Jose, Calif.
Oregon, which had won six of its past eight games before Saturday, finishes in sixth place and gets a bye into the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tourney.
Washington beat USC by 16 in Seattle on Dec. 29, but lost to the Trojans by 20 in Los Angeles on Jan. 28.
“We’re excited about having a rematch,” UW coach June Daugherty said. “We were very disappointed in the way we played down there at USC a few weeks back. We’re looking forward to a third opportunity.”
The win was special for a number of reasons, including the fact that it sent the six UW seniors – Cameo Hicks, Breanne Watson, Jill Bell, Maggie O’Hara, Cheri Craddock and Erica Schelly – out with a victory.
And it could prove to be a big victory. By getting to 18 wins, and taking into account its high RPI and strength of schedule rating, the Huskies seem to be in strong position to claim an at-large NCAA Tournament berth for the second-straight year. Last season, all six Pac-10 teams that made the tournament had at least 18 wins, and every Husky team that has reached that win total has advanced to the Women’s NCAA Tournament since it began in 1982. It should also help that Washington finished strong, winning five of its last six.
“We played a lot of top teams in the country and we beat a couple,” said Hicks, who led all scorers with 13 points. “I think our chances are good.”
On Saturday, it was another case of Washington winning despite its offense. The Huskies shot 32.4 percent and finished the regular season shooting 39.2 percent. But Washington also took 26 more shots than Oregon thanks to 17 offensive rebounds and 24 Ducks turnovers that the UW turned into 31 points. Oregon’s 46 points were the fewest the Huskies allowed an opponent this season.
“We understand that defense and rebounding not only wins games but wins championships,” Daugherty said. “If we can just focus on continuing to play to our strengths, then hopefully we’re getting stops and rebounding well, we can get in our running game.”
“It’s been the story all season,” Hicks said. “We’ve been winning games ugly. We’re going to get it done on the defensive end and offensive rebounding.”
Oregon guard Tamika Nurse said Washington’s pressure defense didn’t surprise them, but the Ducks certainly didn’t handle it well. “We were told they were going to pressure us,” Nurse said. “I don’t know if we were prepared for how hard they were going to pressure us.”
Andrea Plouffe had 12 points and three blocked shots, Watson had nine points and nine rebounds and Dominique Banks had nine points for Washington, which now gets a week to prepare for the Pac-10 tourney.
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