Washington Cruises Past Duke 71-64 at Gulf Coast Showcase

Friday, November 23

Estero, FL

10:30 AM

University of Washington

3-1

Duke

2-2

Washington

Duke

Photo by: Brian Morse / Washington Athletics

Washington Cruises Past Duke 71-64 at Gulf Coast Showcase

November 23, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ESTERO, Fla. --- Amber Melgoza scored 18 points and Missy Peterson had a career-high 17 points as the Washington defense clamped down in a 71-64 victory over Duke in the first round of the 2018 Gulf Coast Showcase at the Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida.

The Huskies improve to 3-1 on the season, picking up an impressive win over the Blue Devils (2-2) who had been receiving votes in the latest AP Top 25 rankings. The victory keeps the Huskies in the winner's bracket of the tournament where they face off against Fordham University. The Rams (3-2) beat Ball State 78-70 in the first game of the tournament.

"We just played together; it was a lot different than we played a few nights ago at Tulane," said Head Coach Jody Wynn. "We moved the ball, we played unselfish basketball and we played really good team defense. We turned the ball over more than we should have in the first half, but we moved the ball and we found open shooters. We talk about winning one to move to the second one and I'm really proud of our collective effort. I thought everyone was engaged and in tune for 40 minutes."

"We continue to trust in one another and when we trust in each other and move the ball, we are going to find open players and open players are going to find open shots," said Wynn. "Defensively, I thought we did a nice job of trusting one another, talking on defense and really securing defensive boards."

Victorious in Game 1 ?

Setting our sights on game two tomorrow against Fordham!#GoHuskies // #GulfCoastShowcase pic.twitter.com/8RlcHCC5JM
— Washington Women's Basketball (@UW_WBB) November 24, 2018

Melgoza, who scored 15 of her team-high 18 points in the second half, added four assists and four rebounds while hitting 6-of-13 from the field.

Peterson finished with a career-high 17 points and narrowly missed her first double-double, pulling down nine rebounds to go along with three steals and a pair of assists. She finished by hitting 6-of-9 from the field including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, scoring 15 of her 17 in the first half.

"We've came off a tough season last year and play in a great conference, so playing such a good team like Duke and getting a win like this is great for us," said Peterson. "I got to give most of the credit to my teammates: they got me open. I can give so much credit to them. After a few went in, it felt good because the last few games, it wasn't going in for me as well. Having them encouraging me and supporting me, giving me confidence and I have to give them a lot of the credit."

Freshman center Darcy Rees had the best game of her young career, scoring 10 points and adding five rebounds and two steals in a season-high 27 minutes.

"Our freshmen did a great job," said Wynn. "Duke is big! I thought Darcy did a really nice job of finding herself near the rim. I thought we gave her some good passes for some finishes and most importantly, she did a great job of keeping the Duke players off the offensive glass. She was able to pull down the defensive board or at least just box out enough that one of her teammates could get the rebound. T.T. used her length and her stunting ability to bother the perimeter players."
Despite a significant size disadvantage—Duke's average height was nearly two inches taller than UW's—the Huskies were able to out-rebound the Blue Devils 35-31.

The Huskies moved the ball well in the game, recording 19 assists on 25 made field goals—the most since tallying 19 helpers against North Carolina in December of last year. Washington also drained eight three-pointers—all in the first half—after hitting just 13 through three games this season.

Washington opened the scoring with a three-pointer by Mai-Loni Henson while the Huskies forced a pair of turnovers and kept Duke to 0-of-4 shooting early on. Duke got on the board at the 7:00 mark, but the Huskies would answer that bucket with a deep three by Haley Van Dyke off a great assist by Henson to go up 6-2 with 6:10 left in the quarter. After a Rees' free throw stretched the lead to five just past the midway point of the quarter, neither team was able to score again until Peterson made a cutting layup from Melgoza to make it 11-4 with 1:40 left.

Duke ended its long drought with a mid-range jumper, but Peterson answered with another layup to stretch it the lead back to seven. After the teams exchanged three-pointers, Duke would convert a three-point play in the final 30 seconds, but the Huskies still held a 16-12 lead after one.

The Huskies broke the game open early in the second quarter, opening the period with a 12-4 run over the first 4:39 to take a 28-16 lead on a layup by Alexis Griggsby. Five different Huskies scored over that stretch including three-pointers by Jenna Moser and Peterson to give UW the 12-point lead.

Duke closed the gap with a quick four-point run over the next minute, but the Huskies answered right back with three consecutive three-pointers—two by Peterson and one by Melgoza—to take a commanding 37-22 lead at the 1:55 mark. Duke would end the 9-0 Husky run with a bucket with 1:25 left, but Washington would take a 37-24 lead to the halftime break.

The defense was impressive for UW in the first half, holding Duke to just 37% while forcing 11 turnovers with the Huskies shooting 50% from the field and 47.1% (8-of-17) from three-point range.

After trading buckets to open the third quarter, Duke closed back to within single-digits with an 8-1 run over a nearly three-minute stretch, to make it a 42-35 game at the midway point of the quarter.

Out of the media timeout, the Huskies battled back with Melgoza scoring the Huskies' first points in over two minutes with a pair of free throws. After a defensive stop, Rees would get an easy layup and just like that, Washington was back up 46-35 with 4:24 left. Duke would respond with a three-pointer, then two minutes later got a back-door layup to once again pull within seven at 47-40 with 2:09 left in the third. But after the teams exchanged buckets, Melgoza closed out the third with a big and-one play, hitting a tough bank shot and making the free throw with three seconds left to give the Huskies a 52-42 lead after three.

Washington kept the run going by scoring the first four points of the fourth quarter as Watkins hit a tough jumper followed by a Rees layup to put UW up 56-42 with 6:28 left in the contest. Meanwhile, the Husky defense kept Duke off the board until the 6:00 mark when the Blue Devils hit a three-pointer. But Washington kept battling and still held a 13-point lead at 60-47 as Rooks made a cutting layup with 4:19 to go.

The Blue Devils defense came alive over the final three minutes, forcing a pair of turnovers and closing back within eight thanks to a 9-4 run over a minute stretch. But Peterson would connect on a pair of free throws at the 2:06 mark to stretch the lead back to 11 at 64-53. Duke followed with a deep three-pointer with 1:48 left to make it 64-56, but Melgoza iced the game with a driving layup with 1:22 left. Duke would close within five with nine second left with a late 7-1 run aided by a few questionable calls, but could get no closer as the Huskies held on for the 71-64 win.

Washington was 7-of-8 from the free throw line over the final two minutes of the game and finished 13-of-18 overall on the afternoon.

The victory helped the Huskies remain perfect all-time against the Blue Devils, moving to 3-0 with Washington accounting for three of Duke's 10 all-time losses against Pac-12 teams.

"We are still young, and we are still trying to find our identity," Wynn said. "We are trying to figure out what we do and who we are as basketball players. I think a game like this is a statement game saying 'When we play unselfish basketball and when we play together on both sides of the floor, we can be in any game.'"