The last time Regina Rogers went to Los Angeles to play a women’s basketball game, she didn’t stick around long. Foul trouble limited the University of Washington player to 19 minutes in a loss to UCLA, her former school.
It’s safe to say that Rogers and the Huskies won’t be making any quick
exits this time around.
UW (11-14 overall, 6-10 in the Pac-10) wraps up its regular season with games at UCLA tonight and at USC on Sunday. But that won’t be the end of the Huskies’ trip. The coaches and players will stay in L.A. through next week, when the city plays host to both the men’s a
nd women’s Pac-10 tournaments.
All totaled, the Huskies could spend 12 days in L.A.
“There’s going to be a lot of proctoring of exams and a lot of paper-writing,” said head coach Tia Jackson, whose team will be accompanied by an academic advisor on the trip. “But at the same time, we k
now we’re there to take care of some basketball games as well.”
The hardest part of the unique road trip could be academics. Upon their return to Seattle, the players will be in finals week, so the time in L.A. won’t be all about basketball and sightseeing.
“I think it’s a good experience staying over,” Rogers said. “It’s better because we’re down there and we’re focused. We don’t have to come home and have any distractions.”
If there’s an advantage to the layover, it’s that the Huskies might not have the typical road-trip woes come tournament time. The jet lag and hotel adjustment will be behind the Huskies when the Pac-10 postseason begins next week.
“We hope it makes us feel more at home,” Jackson said. “That would be great.”
The coaching staff does have some stress-relieving activities planned to help make the trip more enjoyable.
“I’m hoping we get a few days just to relax,” senior point guard Sarah Morton said. “They don’t tell us what we’re doing (for fun), and I kind of like it that way. Maybe Disneyland, I don’t know. As much as we can and still stay focused, because we are there to win.”
Before any of the postseason can begin, the Huskies have two more pieces of business that await them in L.A. The ninth-ranked Bruins (24-3, 14-2) beat UW 60-48 in Seattle in what was a surprisingly competitive game. UCLA has emerged as one of two Pac-10 teams destined for the NCAA tournament, while the Huskies are among a pack of six teams middling between third and eighth place in the conference standings.
Among those is fourth-place USC, which beat UW by nine points in January and needs a win to try and avoid a possible semifinal meeting with Stanford in next week’s tournament.
When the L.A. schools came to Seattle, the Huskies were without Rogers and starting post player Mollie Williams. Injuries slowed that duo for the first half of the Pac-10 season, yet they’re back and contributing for UW.
“It’ll be nice to have a full roster going forward,” Jackson said.
UW has been relatively healthy as of late, although an ankle injury leaves Morton questionable for tonight’s game and will force freshman Marjorie Heard to play with a facemask because of a broken nose. The Huskies’ main problem over the second half of conference play has been inconsistency.
UW followed an exciting, overtime win over Oregon with a dud against Oregon State — the Beavers’ first conference win of the season. An encouraging trip to the Bay Area that included a win at Cal and a competitive game at Stanford was followed up by a pair of home losses to the Arizona schools.
Like most of the Pac-10 this season, the Huskies are too inconsistent to get out of their own way.
“I believe we are much better than our record shows,” Jackson said this week, when the Huskies were coming off a convincing road win over Washington State. “That showed this past weekend, and it’s been evident during the course of the season in certain games.”
Through it all, the Huskies have fallen into a tie for seventh place in the Pac-10 — although they’re just three games out of third place.
The way the Pac-10 women’s tournament works, the Huskies don’t have too much to gain by winning at UCLA today or at USC on Sunday. The bottom eight teams have to play their way into the semifinals next week, while Stanford and Bruins get two-round byes.
Without any chance of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, the Huskies will have to play their way through the conference in L.A. to move on.
If things go perfectly, the Huskies will end up playing six games in 12 days while sleeping in unfamiliar beds. And that would be just fine with Jackson.
“I’m indifferent,” the UW coach said of the Huskies’ unique road trip. “We’re there, and we’re going to make the most of it.”
This time, Rogers hopes to do just that.
“Last year, I didn’t have the performance that I wanted, with the fouls and being jittery,” she said. “I think this year it’s going to be a little bit different.”
And despite watching her former team become one of the nation’s elite programs, the UCLA transfer isn’t looking back on her decision with any regret.
“There’s no what-if’s,” Rogers said of transferring to UW so she could be closer to home. “I love my team.”
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