By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – At some point, it ceased being a basketball game and turned into a felony.
That point came about 4 1/2minutes in.
It was simply criminal what Washington did to the overmatched California Golden Bears Thursday night in an 85-46 Pacific-10 Conference women’s basketball victory before 4,007 witnesses for the prosecution at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
Ticked off by a lackluster showing against the Arizona schools the previous weekend, Washington took it out big-time on the Golden Bears.
“We didn’t just want to beat them,” said UW forward Kellie O’Neill, who led a balanced scoring attack with 12 points, “we wanted to kill them.”
There it is, Your Honor. Admitted premeditation.
The Huskies (5-3 Pac-10, 10-7 overall) assaulted the Golden Bears (0-7, 5-11) by scoring the first eight points of the game and 17 of the first 20; by going on a 19-2 run midway through the first half; by outscoring the Bears in the paint 40-4; and by not allowing Cal its second field goal until Alisa Lewis nailed a 12-foot jumper with 7:26 left in the half.
Don’t look for a repeat Saturday afternoon when the Huskies host fourth-ranked Stanford at 3 p.m.
Someone should investigate freshman guard Kristen O’Neill for gross unsportsmanlike conduct for burying three straight 3-pointers (which constituted her entire point total) in a 1 1/2-minute stretch that gave Washington a 54-17 lead with 30 seconds remaining in the first half.
“We’d taken a few steps back against Arizona,” she said. “In practice, we wanted to make sure we took some giant leaps forward.”
Thirteen Huskies played and 12 scored. Guard Loree Payne chipped in 11 points, while reserve center Sarah Keeler added 10. LaTasha O’Keith led Cal with 10 points.
The NCAA should look into Cal for fraud. Was this really a Division I basketball team that shot 21 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 26 times? Was this really leading scorer and rebounder Ami Forney, who finished with two points and three rebounds?
Only a halfcourt prayer at the buzzer by O’Keith got the Golden Bears out of the teens by halftime, and that only came after a desperate Cal player called timeout while falling out of bounds with the ball.
To Cal’s credit, however, it did hold Washington to 31 second-half points and forced 23 Husky turnovers.
The only suspense among the fans was what variety of cash and valuable prizes they would get, courtesy of the UW’s lovely promotions.
Knowing full well that each and every fan would get a Gameboy game card if the Huskies hit 100 points and a small pizza from a fine local chain should Cal not reach 55, the question among the throng was whether Athletic Director Barbara Hedges would up the ante should, say, Washington win somewhere along the lines of 125-45.
Among the more entertaining speculations involved noted UW booster Phil Smart throwing in a few Mercedes and McCormick &Schmick’s donating prime rib and lobster.
Frankly, the crowd deserved a lot for sticking with this mess.
No dice, however, at last report.
But we digress.
The carnage continued in the second half. The Huskies scored 19 of the first 25 points after halftime and upped the lead to 75-26 with 10 minutes left.
“I thought we did a very good job with our execution and getting very good looks,” UW coach June Daugherty said. “People were in their rhythm.”
Execution. That about sums it up.
Mendiola returns: UW guard Gioconda Mendiola, who missed nine games because of a stress fracture in her lower right leg, saw action Thursday night. She finished with two points, two assists and a rebound in 12 minutes.
Brockman plays: Snohomish High School grad Kirsten Brockman saw her first Pac-10 action and her first minutes since Nov. 30. She finished with four points, a rebound and a steal in 14 minutes.
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