Washington Improves to 2-0 in Pac-12 With 67-64 Win at Cal

Friday, January 3

Berkeley, CA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

10-3, 2-0Pac-12

California

8-4, 0-1Pac-12

Washington

California

Washington Improves to 2-0 in Pac-12 With 67-64 Win at Cal

January 03, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Melgoza Post-Game Interview

BERKELEY, Calif. --- Amber Melgoza scored a season-high 31 points including five points in the last minute as Washington came from behind for a 67-64 win at California in a Pac-12 game on Friday night at Haas Pavilion.

The Huskies improve to 10-3 on the season and remain perfect at 2-0 in Pac-12 play with their ninth win in their last 10 games away from home. The loss drops the Golden Bears to 8-4 and to 0-1 in the conference.

"Although Amber obviously led us in a big way on the offensive end—and boy was she fantastic—we had others step up and contribute in different ways," said Head Coach Jody Wynn. "It was a great team effort and took everyone to secure the 'W.' We all did a good job handling their pressure and made solid decisions with the ball. I'm proud of our composure when they took the lead down the stretch, and we made big plays to close it out."

Washington held a 12-point halftime lead but saw Cal battle back and take a two-point lead with just over five minutes left in the game. The Huskies would go back up three with a quick run, but the Golden Bears scored six-straight to take a 64-61 lead with 1:14 left.

Melgoza would take over from there, draining a corner three off a tough assist from Mai-Loni Henson to tie the game with 1:00 left. After a defensive stop, the Huskies again put the ball in Melgoza's hands with the senior getting a hand-off at the top of the arc from Missy Peterson and hitting a pull-up jumper with 15 seconds left to give UW the lead back.

Washington's defense would make two more stops over the final 15 seconds with Henson hitting a free throw in between as the Huskies pulled out the key road victory.

Melgoza's 31 were a season-high as she connected on 13-of-25 from the field. It marked the fifth time Melgoza recorded 30 or more points in a game and the first since pouring in 32 against Stanford in the final game of the 2018-19 season. She also moved into 16th place on the UW all-time scoring list, finishing the game with 1,395 career points.

Henson added nine points with three assists, two steals and three rebounds—two of which came down the stretch. Darcy Rees and Peterson added eight points each with Peterson recording a team-high five assists. Haley Van Dyke contributed seven points, five rebounds and three assists.

Washington got off to a hot start in the game, using an 11-1 run over a three-minute stretch to take an early 13-5 lead at the 4:43 mark. Cal answered with a 10-2 run to tie the game back up before the Huskies would score the final four points of the quarter to take a 19-15 lead into the second.

That run would continue in the second quarter as the Huskies outscored Cal 11-2 over the first six minutes to take their largest lead of the game at 30-17. The Bears would answer with a second-chance three-pointer to end the run and the teams exchanged buckets the rest of the way with UW leading 36-24 at the break.

Cal came out firing in the second half and quickly closed the gap to seven at 38-31 with a three-point play at the 8:03 mark. But Washington fought off the run with a bucket from Quay Miller which ignited a quick 6-2 run and put the visitors back up by double-digits at 44-33 with 5:47 to go.

The game seemed to change on one quick play near the end of the third quarter. Peterson made a great play to steal the ball and outlet a pass to a streaking Melgoza. However, Melgoza would miss the breakaway layup and foul a Cal player on the rebound. The Cal player hit a pair of free throws marking a four-point swing which seemed to ignite the Bears and the crowd as Cal would go on a 10-2 run which went into the fourth quarter to make it a 52-50 game with 8:38 to go.

That would be the first of many runs for each team in the fourth quarter as the Huskies answered right back with a bucket by Peterson and a back-door layup by Henson to stretch the lead back to 56-50 with 6:56 left. But Cal answered right back with a three-pointer in transition which ignited an 8-0 run and gave the Golden Bears their first lead since early in the game at 58-56 with 5:09 to play.

Henson would end the run with an impressive and-one play, hitting a tough layup but missing the free throw as the Huskies knotted the game at 58-58 with 4:40 left. After another UW free throw, the Huskies caught a big break as Cal was called for a technical foul after a missed shot with Peterson hitting both free throws to give Washington a 61-58 lead with 2:54 to go.

But Cal came right back, hitting a free throw, then a corner three-pointer on the next possession to take a 62-61 lead with 1:28 left. The Huskies would miss a shot and foul quickly on their next trip down with Cal hitting both shots to go up three with 1:14 left.

That could have been the nail in the coffin, but Henson got a pass under the basket, battled through a pair of Cal defenders to find Melgoza in the corner where the senior hit the shot to tie the game back up with 1:00 left. After another big defensive stop, Melgoza would give the Huskies a lead with 15 seconds left to make it 66-64. Cal would miss a three-pointer with nine seconds left and Henson gathered the rebound and was fouled. She would make one of two and Cal would again miss a three-point attempt as the Huskies held on for the win.

Washington opens Pac-12 play with a 2-0 record for the fourth time in the last 13 years, winning their first two road conference games for just the second time over that same stretch. The Huskies have also won three-straight Pac-12 road games dating back to last season after losing their previous 17.

The victory snaps a five-game losing streak to Cal, which had won 16 of the last 22 games in the series dating back to 2008-09.

Washington's next Pac-12 road game will be a tough test as the Huskies head to Palo Alto to face No. 5 Stanford (12-1, 1-0 Pac-12) on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.