UW women face Arizona tonight

SEATTLE — To say that women’s basketball was the talk of the University of Washington campus on Friday might be a bit of a stretch.

Huskies quarterback Jake Locker was holding his first press conference since deciding to return for his senior year, the 24th-ranked UW men’s basketball team was kicking off a big two-game road trip in Arizona and, well, there’s that alumnus who lost his gig as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

But it’s at least safe to say that there is, for the first time in a long time, at least some buzz about the UW women’s basketball program.

With Thursday night’s win over Arizona State, the Huskies (7-6 overall, 2-1 in the Pac-10) rose above the .500 mark for the first time in head coach Tia Jackson’s two-plus seasons as head coach. Picked to finish dead last in the conference after hitting that lowmark last season, UW woke up Friday morning able to look down at five teams in the Pac-10 standings.

“It’s tough for anyone to expect much of us,” leading scorer Sami Whitcomb said after the 62-56 win over ASU on Thursday night. “The year that we had last year just wasn’t very good. I think we’re going to continue to surprise a lot of people.”

Perhaps it was Jackson herself who best described the state of the 2009-10 Huskies in her opening comments following Thursday’s win.

“Wow,” she said. “I am so proud of this team.”

When asked about the first winning season record of her tenure at UW, Jackson shrugged off the significance. She’s more about seeing improvement than she is scoreboards.

But it’s undeniable that this program has taken a big step since posting an embarrassing 8-22 mark last season. The Huskies are one win away — both overall and in conference — from matching their 2008-09 totals.

UW has benefited from the inside play of UCLA transfer Regina Rogers, rapidly improving sophomore Mollie Williams and a healthy Mackenzie Argens. The Huskies also have some depth coming off the bench, most notably in the form of Williams and guard Christina Rozier.

Sophomore Kristi Kingma, a former Jackson star, has also come on lately. She had a team-high 18 points in the win over Oregon State six days ago, then played 39 minutes — most of it after moving from wing to point guard — while helping UW beat Arizona State on Thursday.

Since Kingma replaced injured senior Sara Mosiman in the starting lineup on Dec. 6, the Huskies have gone 5-2.

But the most important factor is Whitcomb, a senior who has carried the scoring load for most of the season. She had 26 points in Thursday’s win, marking her fifth game of 20 or more points this season. She had four 20-plus games during the 2008-09 season.

“Last year, I really tried to force shots that just weren’t there,” she said. “I feel like this year, I’m doing a better job of taking what they give me and reading the defense better.”

Whitcomb and the Huskies host an improving Arizona team tonight, and they just hope to keep headed in the right direction.

“It’s the momentum we feel like we’re creating,” Whitcomb said after Thursday’s win over ASU. “It’s getting a win (at Oregon State) on the road, playing a good Oregon team tough at their house, winning against a very good Arizona State team.

“It’s definitely great to get over .500. But more than anything, it’s good to get (Thursday’s) win. And hopefully, we can carry it over.”

Notes

Williams, who hurt her knee in Thursday’s game and was forced to the bench for long stretches, was cleared to play tonight against Arizona. Doctors determined that it was just a bruised knee. … After working her way up to 20-minute-a-night status in early December, Rogers has been limited in the Huskies’ past few games. The post player has averaged just 10.8 minutes and 4.5 points in UW’s last four games. Rogers, who is still trying to get back into shape after a bout with pneumonia last spring, had averaged 10.7 points per game through the first six games of the season.

GRAFIC:

Today’s game

UW women (7-6, 2-1) vs. Arizona (7-6, 1-2)

Where: Hec Edmondson Pavilion

When: noon