University of Washington
Oklahoma State
Huskies Win Third Straight Road Game
December 03, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2000
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- The Washington women's basketball team jumped out to a quick lead and never let up, downing Oklahoma State, 66-59, in front of 211 fans in non-conference action at Oklahoma City College Sunday afternoon.
Washington improves to 3-2 overall, including a 3-1 mark on the road. OSU drops to 4-3 overall. The game was played at the alternate site while OSUs arena undergoes renovation.
Sophomore forward Kellie O'Neill led the charge for the Huskies, scoring a game-high 20 points and just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. ONeill hit her first nine shots from the field, and was closing in on Karen Dedens school record (10-11 vs. Arizona State) from 1989 before she missed her first bucket with just under nine minutes to go in the game. ONeill finished the day with 9-of-14 from the field in 30 minutes of action.
Freshman guard Giuliana Mendiola dialed up Washingtons first double-double of the year, with 10 points and 11 rebounds, along with six assists and two steals. Megan Franza added another 15 points for the Huskies. Jessica Spinner led OSU with 11 points.
Washington jumped out to a quick lead, starting with a 13-2 mark early and again leading by 11 points, 16-5, at 13:55 in the first half. They jumped out to a 10-point lead two other times, but also let the Cowgirls back in as the gap was down to three points, 22-16, at 9:09. Washington took a 35-30 lead at the break. ONeill had 10 points at the half on 5-of-5 from the field.
ONeill came out of the break on fire, hitting the first three Huskies baskets as Washington used a 15-2 run to improve its advantage to 19 points, 51-32, at 14:04 to go. The Cowgirls used an 8-2 run to cut it to 13, 53-40, with 8:20 remaining. OSU hung around and whittled it down to a 10-point ballgame, 57-47, with 3:46 remaining.
A three-pointer by Chantoya Hawkins at 3:07 cut the Huskies lead to single digits, 57-50, but that was as close as the Cowgirls would get until Machell Roberts hit a three at the buzzer for the final margin.
It was nice to see the team be aggressive and finish strong, said Husky head coach June Daugherty. We are playing without our leading scorer (Loree Payne) and leading rebounder (LeAnn Sheets), so we are looking at different combinations on the floor. People are playing in different position, but we have that versatility that gives us several different looks. We had a couple lulls in the second half and Oklahoma State climbed back in, but our press was good for us tonight.
I think Kellie ONeill is one of the most underrated forwards in the country, she added. People are going to start finding out about her real quickly. She is versatile and strong and when she gets in a zone, lookout. We need to get her the ball at times like that, because we know good things are going to happen.
Washington returns home to host Nebraska in the Les Schwab Challenge at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 6 at Bank of America Arena. It is the first of a seven-game home stretch for the Huskies.
