SEATTLE — Regina Rogers calls Stanford the big sister of the Pac-10 Conference.
“We can take pointers from them,” the University of Washington junior women’s basketball player said. “They can help us learn, and we can take things from them.”
Yet even littl
e sisters can only handle so much losing. So when the Huskies (6-7 overall, 1-3 in the Pac-10) face the fourth-ranked Cardinal today, they will be looking to snap a nine-game skid against Stanford.
“It’s kind of fun playing them and being the underdogs and getting the chance to kind of prove who you are as a team,” said point guard Sarah Morton, the Huskies’ lone senior. “That’s kind of exciting for us as a team.”
What would be even more exciting would be to finally knock the Cardinal off their perch — something no UW team has done since December 2005. The Huskies’ current nine-game losing streak against Stanford includes nine double-digit losses and four by 30-plus points.
The last time Stanford (12-2, 3-0) played at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, UW scored just 36 points on the way to a 22-point loss. Many of the current Huskies were part of an even more humbling 112-35 loss to the Cardinal two years ago this week.
This year’s Cardinal appears to be one of Stanford’s better teams, which is saying a lot. Coming off a trip to last year’s NCAA finals, the Cardinal are smaller but faster while featuring sisters Nnemkadi and Chiney Ogwumike.
Nnemkadi, a junior, is the Pac-10’s reigning player of the year and ranks second in the league in scoring at 17.2 points per game. Chiney, a freshman, has made an immediate impact as one of three other players in double figures.
Mix in All-America candidates Jeanette Pohlen and Kayla Pedersen, and Stanford has plenty of firepower. That was obvious earlier this season, when the Cardinal knocked off then-No. 1 Connecticut, ending UConn’s NCAA record 90-game winning streak.
“It’s going to be a battle from one end to the next.” UW coach Tia Jackson said, “and we’ve just got to come out hungry and feeling confident about who we are.”
If the Huskies have any reason to feel confident about who they are these days, it’s because they’re finally getting healthy. After playing long stretches without starters Morton (ankle) and Mollie Williams (concussion) and top reserve Rogers (hamstring), UW had all three on the floor in a four-point loss to Oregon over the weekend.
Morton played despite spraining her right ankle — not the same ankle she hurt earlier this season — at a practice, while Rogers and Williams saw limited action. Jackson said Morton and Rogers should be available for tonight’s game but that Williams might have to sit out.
Just having Rogers back on the floor changes the Huskies’ offense immensely. Although she’s been used as a reserve this season after starting most of last year, Rogers continues to be UW’s most polished inside scorer — as evidenced by her 18 points in 29 minutes of action against Oregon and Oregon State last week.
“I just think her presence on the floor makes teams pay attention to her,” Jackson said. “She commands it. And it takes the pressure off of our leading scorer (Kristi Kingma).”
Rogers said she’s still not 100 percent confident in the hamstring, which kept her out of 10 games, but that she’s glad to be back on the floor.
“It’s been hard,” said Rogers, who consulted some of the UW men’s basketball players about coming back from injuries. “It’s really been hard. I haven’t sat out since my (transfer) year, and I’ve never sat out for an injury.”
Considering which opponent will be at Hec Edmundson Pavilion tonight, the Huskies could use as many healthy bodies as they can find. UW holds an all-time record of 5-35 against teams ranked in the top five and 14-38 all-time against Stanford.
“Any team that’s nationally ranked or publicized, you feel that pressure to want to beat them,” Roger said. “And I think we can step up to that pressure.”
GRAFIC:
Tonight’s game
UW women (6-7, 1-3) vs. No. 3 Stanford (12-2, 3-0)
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Hec Edmundson Pavilion
Radio: KKNW 1150 AM
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