SEATTLE — The last time the University of Washington women’s basketball team was on a court, the Huskies finished off one of their most satisfying wins of the season. UW knocked off USC and spoiled the Trojans’ hopes of separating from a crowded middle of the Pacific-12 Conference.
“It’s exciting anytime you win a game,” said senior Mollie Williams, the star of that game for UW. “As a player, you always want to win; you never want to lose. It boosts us up, and it might have knocked them back, and that makes it a little better.”
And yet the Huskies, who have once again been relegated to the role of spoilers, aren’t looking at the final seven games of their regular season as a chance to knock down opponents. UW (12-9 overall, 4-7 in the Pacific-12 Conference) is just hoping to keep things moving forward.
“Finally, we got one of those gritty ones,” Williams said of the 67-61 win over USC. “Hopefully, that can carry over.”
Winning close games has been a problem for UW for most of this season. Five of the Huskies’ nine losses have come by fewer than six points or in overtime.
Two of those losses came in Oregon, against opponents that the Huskies will see again this week. The Oregon Ducks (13-10, 5-6) are in town tonight, while Oregon State will come calling on Saturday.
Williams isn’t making any predictions on whether the win over USC will send the Huskies into a hot streak, but she does want to close out in style.
“This is my senior year, so I want to go out with a bang,” she said. “But we’re not thinking that far ahead. We’re taking it step by step, and hopefully that way I’ll end my career on a good note.”
Note
Former UW player Kayla Burt, a graduate of Arlington High School, is scheduled to be honored during tonight’s game. Burt, whose UW career came to an abrupt end after she went into cardiac arrest on New Years Eve 2002, now does work with a heart-awareness group called Hope Heart Institute.
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