SEATTLE – It wasn’t easy for Gonzaga to get to Hec Edmundson Pavilion, and once the Bulldogs got there, Washington didn’t make things any more pleasant.
The Huskies used a harassing defense and strong production from their bench to defeat Gonzaga 75-61 in a non-conference women’s basketball game in front of 2,932 fans Friday night.
The win improved Washington (6-4) to 17-0 all-time against Gonzaga (7-6) and gave the Huskies their 10th-straight non-conference home win.
Washington won by holding Gonzaga to 39 percent shooting and scoring 24 points off of 20 turnovers. The Huskies had a season-high 14 steals and six blocked shots and also turned the ball over just 12 times.
“We were very aware of how balanced Gonzaga is offensively,” UW coach June Daugherty said. “All five positions are really capable of hurting you in double figures and they get a lot of help off the bench. So I thought our defense was definitely going to be challenged. For the most part, I thought we did a pretty good job.”
If Gonzaga seemed a bit out of sync, there was good reason. The Bulldogs’ flight to Seattle was cancelled Thursday night at 10:15, so they had to bus over a messy pass at 7 a.m. Friday morning. Then their bus from their downtown hotel to the arena was a half-hour late as it inched through traffic. But Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves wouldn’t blame the circumstances for his team’s struggles.
“Our kids didn’t complain, they came out and did a good job,” Graves said. “We had some reasons not to play well, but I don’t think that’s why we didn’t play well.”
Graves said Washington’s ability to play so many players significant minutes wore his team down.
“They’re a good team,” Graves said. “They run a lot of players in, they do wear you down a little bit because they’re running 10, 11 kids in quality minutes. Sometimes that takes a toll on you.”
Washington’s defensive effort was led by junior point guard Emily Florence, who had a career-high five steals and a team-high six rebounds, and Cameo Hicks, who had four steals and two blocks to go with a game-high 17 points.
In the first half, back-to-back Cheri Craddock buckets sparked a 17-2 UW run that turned a two-point lead into a 17-point advantage with 9:14 to play before halftime. But from that point, the Huskies went cold, missing 12 of their last 13 shots to end the half, allowing Gonzaga to get within 10.
The Bulldogs pulled within eight early in the second half before the UW went on a 13-5 run capped by 3-pointers from Hicks and Florence to extend the lead to 51-35. Gonzaga fought back late, making it 64-55 before Jill Bell and Andrea Plouffe made back-to-back jump shots in a 7-0 spurt to put the game away.
Plouffe had 12 points and Craddock scored 10 to lead a Husky bench that outscored Gonzaga’s reserves 31-9.
The Huskies face No. 23 Florida State at 1 p.m. Sunday at Hec Ed.
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