SEATTLE — It’s sure to be an emotional day today when Washington seniors Andrea Plouffe and Emily Florence play their final regular-season game at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, but Plouffe promises it won’t be too emotional.
“I mean, I’m not going to cry or anything,” she said earlier this week.
Are you sure?
“I’m sure, I’ve very sure,” she answered before pausing. “I hope I’m not wrong.”
Tears or no tears, Washington’s two seniors hope to have a memorable home finale against ninth-ranked California. And as much as they’ll miss playing for the Huskies, the Huskies likely will miss Florence and Plouffe even more.
“It’s going to be very, very tough to replace them,” Washington coach Tia Jackson said. “Emily is probably irreplaceable. She’s just so valuable to this program. And Dre’s leadership and just her physical presence inside are going to be tough to replace.”
Florence, a four-year starter at point guard, and Plouffe, a three-year starter at forward/center, have had to provide not only production, but also leadership for a young Husky team this season. The rest of Washington’s active roster consists of two juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen.
“The biggest thing I saw this year is the leaders that they have become,” said Kayla Burt, an assistant coach at the University of Portland who played two seasons with Florence and Plouffe. “Just to see Dre and Emily not only play the way that they’ve played, but the way they’ve led those younger kids, it’s been fun to watch them grow.”
Burt, an Arlington High School graduate, admits she wasn’t expecting greatness out of Plouffe, who came to the team from Edmonton, Alberta, and Florence a soccer and basketball standout at Boise’s Timberline High School whose 5-foot-5 listing on the roster may be a bit generous.
“To be honest, we all looked at Dre like, ‘Who’s this Canadian coming in?’” Burt said with a laugh. “And then we looked an Emily and were like, ‘Why the heck did they recruit a soccer player?’ That was our very first instinct. Emily is 5-4 and the first impression was, ‘Gosh, what’s this girl going to bring?’ Little did we know that she would be one of the best point guards at this school in a long time. She came in and not only surprised people, but surpassed everyone’s expectations of what she was capable of.”
Plouffe has become the Huskies’ most consistent inside threat, having scored in double figures 10 times this season after coming back from an Achilles tendonitis, which kept her out of Washington’s first 10 games.
In addition to running the offense from her point guard position, Florence has mysteriously emerged as one of the Pac-10’s top rebounders. Much to the dismay of opposing post players and coaches, Florence averages 6.4 rebounds per game, ninth best in the Pac-10.
Florence, who has started 109 consecutive games going back to her freshman season, ranks fifth in UW history with 389 career assists, and eighth in steals with 214.
“I don’t think everyone will realize how much she did for this team until she’s gone, because she’s that type of player that does everything,” Plouffe said of Florence. “She runs the floor, she’s the one that sparks us on defense, she starts us on offense. She’ll be a big, big loss.”
One senior that won’t be on the court with Plouffe and Florence today is Dominique Banks, who is redshirting because of stress fractures in both legs.
While Banks is looking forward to playing next season, she admits that it is hard watching her fellow seniors play their last season without her.
“I’m kind of getting teary eyed right now just thinking about it, because this is it for them,” she said. “It was supposed to be, this is it for us. We all came in together and from the beginning we used to talk about this last hurrah. So it’s going to be sad, but at the same time it’s going to be exciting because they’re going to be able to move on and live the next chapter of their lives, and I know they’re going to do well in that. But it’s definitely going to be sad for me, because those two are like a part of me.”
They’ve also been a big part of Washington basketball.
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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