UW women blast foe by 39 in Husky Classic

Associated Press

SEATTLE — On the night before her 21st birthday, Emily Autrey scored 15 points in No. 25 Washington’s 81-42 victory over Northeastern in the first round of the Seattle Times Husky Classic on Friday.

Autrey had 11 in a first half that was dominated by Washington.

In a first-ever battle of these two teams with ‘Huskies’ as their mascot, it was a one-sided dog fight that gave Washington head coach June Daugherty her 83rd win at the school. Daugherty now ranks second behind only Chris Gobrecht, who went 243-89 as the Washington head coach from 1985 to 1996. Daugherty replaced Gobrecht after the 1995-96 season.

Washington (2-1) had lost its last two home openers, but is now 22-6 its first game in front of its home fans. Four Huskies scored in double-figures, led by Autrey. Loree Payne had 14, Giuliana Mendiola 12, and Kellie O’Neill 10.

Northeastern (1-2) struggled with its shots and was dominated in the paint, being outrebounded 45-26. The visiting Huskies were led by Genny Caruso and Francesca Vanin, who scored nine apiece.

Joi Jefferson’s layup with 14:37 to play in the first half cut Washington’s lead to 11-5, but Northeastern failed to score for the next six minutes and Washington went on 15-0 run and took a 26-5 advantage. Caruso ended Northeastern’s scoring drought with a 20-foot jumper.

Northeastern shot only 19 percent from the floor in the first half, and that led to a 40-16 deficit at intermission.

Washington will host Santa Clara in the tournament championship, while Northeastern faces Princeton in the consolation game tonight.

Santa Clara 80, Princeton 52: At Seattle, Santa Clara’s Kayla Huss, a graduate of Cascade High School, scored 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds in leading the Broncos over the Princeton Tigers in the opening game of the Husky Classic. Huss was among four Santa Clara players to post double-digit scoring. Their shooting helped the Broncos advance to the tournament championship game to night against host Washington. Santa Clara (2-1) used a balanced scoring attack that moved it out to an early lead that was never threatened. In the second half, Princeton never got closer than 13 points. Huss, Kendra Rhea, Kim Butler and Jennie Rondel each scored 10 for the Broncos.