Huskies Face No. 9 Ohio State In Season's First Road Game

SEATTLE --- Washington hits the road for the first time this season, facing off against No. 9 Ohio State on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. PT). The game is the first of four-straight away from Seattle for the Huskies. UW picked up its first win of the season–and first in Head Coach Jody Wynn's tenure as a Husky–on Wednesday, holding on for an 80-72 victory at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Sophomore Amber Melgoza poured in a career-high 20 points and was one of five UW players to score in double figures. Melgoza added a team-high eight rebounds and scored 14 of her 20 points in the second quarter to help the Huskies pull away. Washington built a 16-point lead late in the third quarter but watched it slowly go away as BYU pulled to within six late in the contest. Despite going 0-for-11 from the field in the fourth quarter, the Huskies were able to hold on for the win, scoring all eight of its points in the final 10 minutes from the free throw line.

Scouting the Buckeyes
Ohio State has played a challenging schedule through the early part of the season, opening the season with an 85-64 win over No. 10 Stanford before losing 95-90 in overtime to No. 9 Louisville. Sunday's game vs. Washington closes out a stretch of five-straight home games to open the season for the Buckeyes.

In 2016-17, the Buckeyes won their 15th Big Ten Championship, posting a 28-7 overall record and reaching the Sweet Sixteen before falling 99-76 to Notre Dame. Ohio State returns nine letterwinners from that squad and were picked to repeat as Big Ten Champs in the preseason coaches poll.

Ohio State is coached by fifth-year coach Kevin McGuff, who spent two seasons as the head coach at Washington (2011-13) where he posted an overall record of 41-26 before heading east to coach the Buckeyes.

Senior guard Kelsey Mitchell leads the way with 26.0 points per game, though she is just one of four Buckeyes averaging 12 points or better on the season. Senior forward Stephanie Mavunga is one of those, averaging 12.5 points to go with an impressive 14.3 rebounds per contest.

All-Time Series Record
Sunday's game is just the third meeting all-time between the schools and the first since 2007-08. The Huskies are still looking for their first win against Ohio State. The Buckeyes won 84-79 in the first game of the series on Dec. 3, 2006 in Columbus. OSU then cruised to a 71-54 victory when the teams met again on Dec. 16, 2007 in Seattle. Overall, the Huskies are 20-18 against teams from the Big 10.

OHIO STATE (0-2)
(H: 0-1, A: 0-1, N: 0-0)
12/16/07    L    54-71 (h)
12/3/06 L    79-84 (a)

Up Next
Washington remains on the road next week, facing a pair of teams in the South Point Shootout in Las Vegas, Nev. The Huskies open the weekend against Creighton on Friday at 11:00 a.m. before taking on No. 2 Texas on Saturday at 1:15 pm.

Last Time Out
The Huskies picked up their first victory of the season with an 80-72 win over BYU on Wednesday (Nov. 15) at Alaska Airlines Arena. Sophomore Amber Melgoza poured in a career-high 20 points and was one of five Huskies to score in double-figures in the contest.

Impressive Debuts
Washington had a solid showing from its core of freshman making their collegiate debuts against Idaho State. The Huskies were led in scoring by Kierra Collier, who scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench. Alexis Griggsby added nine points, four rebounds and two steals in 15 minutes with Missy Peterson contributing eight points and two assists. Two freshman cracked the starting lineup for the Huskies with Fapou Semebene and Khayla Rooks each scoring five points and pulling down a team-high five rebounds.

Huskies Ink Talented Duo to NLIs
Washington coach Jody Wynn announced the signing Haley Van Dyke (Moraga, Calif./Campolindo High School) and Tyiona "TT" Watkins (Walnut, Calif./Walnut HS) to National Letters of Intent during the November early signing period.

Van Dyke, a 6-0 forward, scored the fifth-most points in the state of California last season, pouring in 765 points in 32 games for a 23.9 points per game average. She is ranked 21st among Class of 2018 forwards according to ESPN and ranks as the No. 82 player overall according to Prospects Nation.

Watkins is a 5-11 wing who will wrap up her high school career at Walnut High School in Walnut, Calif., after three seasons at Brea Olinda High School. She is currently ranked as the No. 14 wing player in the class of 2018 by ESPN and No. 20 by Prospects Nation.

First Game Struggles
After the Huskies loss against Idaho State, only three of 11 Washington WBB coaches have won their first game as the Huskies' head coach. The last time a coach won their first game at UW came in 1985-86 when Chris Gobrecht defeated UCLA 68-50 when the Huskies were members of the NorPac Conference. Since UW joined the Pac-10/12, Husky coaches are now 0-5 in their first games at the helm.

No Overtime, Please
Washington has an odd streak going, having played 125-straight games without overtime. The Huskies last overtime win came during the 2013-14 season when UW downed Utah 53-52 on Jan. 17, 2014. Over the last three seasons there have been 44 OT games involving Pac-12 teams with Cal and Stanford each playing six. Overall, UW is 18-18 all-time in overtime contests.

Strength of Schedule
The Huskies are not shying away from playing tough teams in the 2017-18. The preseason polls have Washington taking on seven teams ranked in the top 25 with three others receiving votes in the AP poll. The Pac-12 conference boasts five teams in the AP top 25 (#8 UCLA, #10 Oregon, #14 Stanford, #18 Oregon State and #20 California) with Arizona State receiving the most votes outside the top 25. Besides its Pac-12 opponents, the Huskies also square off against #2 Texas and #9 Ohio State in pre-conference games.

Versus The State of Idaho
The Huskies play all three DI programs in Idaho this season, facing Idaho State in their home opener before traveling to take on Idaho and Boise State in the Gem State in December. Overall Washington is 29-5 against the three Idaho schools in its history and has not lost to one since an 88-66 loss at Boise State on Dec. 7, 2007. The Huskies are 19-1 at home against the Idaho schools all time.

Huskies Ranked in the Preseason Polls
Washington opens the season ranked tied for No. 25 along with fellow Pac-12 foe California with 79 votes in the USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll and received four votes in the AP Poll.

2016-17 Recap
The Huskies posted a 29-6 record and made their second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17. Washington went 18-1 at home and earned a pair of home games to open the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. The Huskies downed Montana State and Oklahoma before falling to Mississippi State in the Sweet Sixteen. UW's Kelsey Plum earned numerous honors including the Naismith Trophy and the Wooden Award as the NCAA Player of the Year before being selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft by the San Antonio Stars.

Season Openers
With the loss to Idaho State, Washington is now 26-18 in season openers all-time, snapping a two-game winning streak in such games. Last season, the Huskies beat Eastern Washington 100-52 last year and defeated Santa Clara 100-55 the year before. Over the last 12 seasons, Washington is 4-8 in season openers.

Home Openers
The Huskies have posted an impressive 33-11 overall record in home openers despite losing to Idaho State this season. Since 2008-09, Washington is 4-5 in lid-lifters and had won their last three coming into this season including the win over Eastern Washington last year.

Radio Show
Washington Women's Basketball Head Coach Jody Wynn joins Elise Woodward for the UW Coaches Show throughout the season at Chinook's at Fisherman's Terminal. The show is carried live on KOMO AM 1000 in Seattle at 6:00 p.m. on the following dates: Dec. 4, Dec. 11, Dec. 18, Dec. 26, Jan. 2, Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan. 23, Jan. 30, Feb. 6, Feb. 13, Feb. 20, Feb. 27 and March 5. The show can be streamed online at gohuskies.com or by using the TuneIn Mobile App, available in the Apple and Google App Stores.

Huskies in USA Basketball
Five former Washington athletes have competed internationally for USA Basketball. Karen Deden, who was named to the 1995 USA Pan American Games Team, but was denied a shot at a medal after the women's basketball competition was cancelled due to too few team entries, played on the 1989 USA Junior World Cup (U19) Team that placed seventh and the 1988 USA Junior World Cup Qualifying Team that won gold. Loree Payne won gold on the 2000 USA R. William Jones Cup Team and competed in an exhibition game as a member of the 2000 USA Select Team against the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team; Jamie Redd was a member of the 1998 USA Select Team that posted a 7-1 slate against international teams in exhibition games; while Rhonda Smith won a silver medal at the 1997 Tournament of the Americas and a bronze medal at the 1993 R. William Jones Cup. Most recently, Kelsey Plum earned a gold medal at the 2013 FIBA U19 World Cup, silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games and participated in the 2017 USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp Sept. 30-Oct. 2 in Santa Barbara, California.

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Huskies Face No. 9 Ohio State In Season's First Road Game

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Players Mentioned

Amber Melgoza

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