University of Washington
Washington State
Streak Continues As Huskies Thump Cougars, 65-48, In Pullman
February 26, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2011
PULLMAN, Wash. - If there's anything that encapsulates the Huskies' rivalry with Washington State, it's the sight of Marjorie Heard flying for rebounds with a wad of tissue wedged into her bloodied and bruised nose.
The freshman forward needed a little medical treatment after a violent collision with a Cougars' player, but her grit and toughness epitomized the Huskies' performance in a 65-48 win at Beasley Coliseum on Saturday night. With the win, the Huskies extended their streak over the Cougars to 32 games, a mark dating back 16 years.
After a series of close shaves the last four years in Pullman, the Huskies were able to savor this victory, emptying the bench in the game's final minutes. Not the scenario the past four years, when the Huskies won by just nine total points. Mackenzie Argens led the Dawgs with 18 points and eight rebounds, taking advantage of her guards' effort to feed the ball inside. She teamed with Regina Rogers (13 points) to form a near-unstoppable tandem in the post. Their production helped the Huskies offset an uncharacteristic shooting night from Kristi Kingma, who was held to just five points on 2-of-11 shooting. Kingma also did not hit a 3-pointer for only the second game this season. Charmaine Barlow also stepped up with a career-high 10 rebounds.
"We always preach about establishing inside game," said head coach Tia Jackson. "And we were able to do that pretty solidly."
Carly Noyes scored eight points to lead the Cougars, who have dropped their past three games.
More importantly, the Huskies snapped a three-game losing streak. All week long, the team stressed a "back-to-basics" style of play, making sure they stayed true to their brand of defense and interior play. Against the Cougars, the Huskies' physical style of basketball was put on display. WSU hit just 18-of-61 shots (29 percent) as the Huskies squeezed off open looks and limited opportunities in transition. The Cougars' primary scoring trio of Sage Romberg, Ireti Amojo and Jazmine Perkins combined for just 16 points. Washington (11-14, 6-10) never allowed the Cougars (8-20, 6-10) to get into a rhythm offensively, save for the hosts 10-4 run to start the game.
Once the Huskies weathered the storm, it was conga line of layups for the forwards, who exploited the soft underbelly of WSU's 3-2 zone. This was a sea change from the team's first meeting at Alaska Airlines Arena, when the posts went just 2-of-16 from the floor.
"It started with Mac; she just went to work," Jackson said. "And then it went to Regina, who had a lot of 1-on-1 looks and that's just dangerous territory when you allow her that."
The rivalry between both teams is often testy, and this was the case in a game that featured plenty of hard fouls and double technicals between Barlow and Perkins. The T's served only to fire up the Huskies, who responded with an 18-6 run to put the game out of reach. And there were no hard feelings with both players afterwards, as Barlow and Perkins shared a hug and waved off the incident outside of the Huskies' locker room.
"We played our game today," Rogers said. "We didn't give up; we didn't let up that just kept going with what was successful for us."
Credit the Huskies for going with what worked, as the guards made a concerted effort to feed the post again and again. Sarah Morton and Kingma combined for eight assists, and Mercedes Wetmore came off the bench to play quality minutes in scoring eight points, including the Huskies' lone 3-pointer in the second half.
The Huskies have two games left in the regular season against the Los Angeles schools on the road. The Huskies will try to further solidify position for the Pac-10 Tournament beginning March 3 at Pauley Pavilion against UCLA.
