Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but it was a bad sign of things to come for the women’s basketball team. Throughout the first half of Saturday’s game against No. 22 California, the south-facing side of the central scoreboard flashed a large Dawgs logo on it, but something wasn’t quite right. Three dead pixels under the Dawg’s eye made it appear to cry.

With the way Washington (12-7 overall, 5-3 Pac-10) played, it just might have been real tears. The Dawgs never got into a flow, while Cal (13-4 overall, 4-3 Pac-10) poured it all over them en route to a 72-49 win.

“It has obviously been a tough couple games here, with ASU where we played well, Stanford we didn’t, and tonight Cal played a great game,” said coach June Daugherty. “Offensively, we are just as cold as the weather. We are not hitting shots.”

It could have been the Huskies’ 0-9 start from the field, or maybe the 12-0 Golden Bears’ run to start the game, or maybe it was the fact that Cal’s Devanei Hampton finished the first half with 17 points and seven field goals, while the UW equaled her point total for the half on just six baskets. Almost every statistic going into halftime was in favor of Cal. It didn’t change after the break.

Cal finished shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor, while the Huskies hit under 30 percent of their shots for the second game in a row.

“We had some good shots; it was just a matter of not knocking them down,” said senior Cameo Hicks. “One thing that I thought we were not doing was taking high-percentage shots in the paint. The last two teams we have played, the teams have been getting high-percentage shots. The teams we have been playing have played outstanding defense, but we have to find a way around that.”

Indeed, Cal followed Stanford’s lead, pounding the Huskies inside for a 42-14 advantage in points in the paint.

Hampton led all scorers with 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting, and she added eight rebounds and four assists. Ashley Walker and Rama N’diaye also found openings in the Washington interior.

“I thought Hampton got a lot in the mid-range game,” Daugherty said, noting that she felt her team played better inside than it did vs. Stanford. “She is one of those special players, but I thought we did a good job of forcing them out … You have to pick your poison with a player like that.”

Daugherty was unable to explain her team’s uninspired start to the game, but she said her team might have run out of gas after a tough road trip and home loss to Stanford.

“I think any time you struggle offensively, like the last two games shooting-percentage wise, watching us we are out of rhythm,” she said. “To me, that is a little bit of fatigue on the legs. The good news is we have the single game this week, so hopefully we have a chance to rest today, and Sunday and Monday.”

Hicks agreed.

“I think it is important for us to get some rest, and kind of take our focus off of basketball,” she said. “We have a couple of days off, so we can get some rest and come back with a renewed focus. We have one game left in the first half of Pac-10 play, so we need to come back strong.”

The 49 points were a season-low for the Huskies. Hicks was the only player in double figures, with 12 points.

While the three-game skid hasn’t been pretty for the Dawgs, Daugherty said there is no need to ring the alarm yet.

“I’m glad our girls stayed composed and stayed in there and kept fighting,” she said. “Obviously we are in a little bit of an offensive slump. We have to get rested up and start moving forward, because we know we are a better team than what we have shown the last couple of days.”

The Huskies host the Pac-10’s last-place Washington State Cougars (5-13 overall, 1-7 Pac-10) Saturday at 1 p.m.

Reach reporter Sam Cameron at samcameron@thedaily.washington.edu.