After a two-week hiatus, the UW women's gymnastics team returns to competition tonight to take on the University of Arizona Wildcats at home in Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

The Huskies are hoping that their scheduled bye and home court advantage will lead to a win against the No. 14 Wildcats, who have looked strong this so far this season in competitions against Michigan State, Minnesota and Oregon State. Arizona has been scoring consistently in the 194 range, a number the Huskies have been reaching for during their past two meets.

Washington has had a solid start to its season, earning respect - if not wins - against some of the top programs in the country, including UCLA, Utah and Stanford. The Huskies have been improving steadily and scores are creeping upwards, although consistency in competition has sometimes gone AWOL.

The bye has given the team a period to rest, coach Joanne Bowers said, but they haven't stopped working for an instant.

"I don't know that I've ever seen a team work as hard in our week off," said Bowers, who worked as an assistant coach for No. 8 Michigan before coming to Washington last summer. "We kind of said this is our chance to get ahead."

Senior Chelsea Bakken said she feels the Huskies are well matched against Arizona.

"I truly believe we can beat U of A," she said. "It's not like we want to win or lose; it's just more fun if we have someone in our caliber."

The team will be taking on Arizona without Bakken, who sprained her ankle in training earlier this week. Bakken's injury is disappointing, Bowers said, but she's relieved the problem does not appear to be serious.

"Darn it, this was probably going to be our first meet where we had all of our top kids in the lineup at the same time," Bowers said. "It's hard having her out. Hopefully it's just for one meet."

Sophomore Ashley Houghting will be taking Bakken's place in the all-around lineup. Washington junior Natalie Gillan, who suffered a foot injury in January, is expected to return to all-around competition tonight as well.

The Wildcats are led by an experienced squad that has had considerable success during the past few weeks. Junior Karin Wurm has captured the all-around title at Arizona's last two competitions, and junior Danielle Hicks has earned the scores — and reputation — of one of the best beam workers in the country.

Bowers said one of her goals during the team's break was to up the difficulty level on certain events. But after the team's showing against Stanford at home on Jan. 26, she said she also felt the team needed to get back to basics.

"I'm expecting our team to rise to the occasion and show that we're getting better with every competition," Bowers said. "That's been our mantra the whole time, that we're getting better. We're trying to hit as many routines as we can."

Reach reporter Blythe Lawrence at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.