There are three things that UW women’s basketball coach Tia Jackson wants her team to accomplish each game: “focus on defense, transition offensively and win the rebounding war.”

The Husky women passed all three tests to gang up on Arizona, 74-59, Saturday at Hec Edmunson Pavilion.

Washington (8-13, 3-6 Pac-10) put full-court pressure on Arizona’s (7-13, 1-8 Pac-10) offense from the get-go, forcing numerous turnovers and getting several fast break points early in the first half.

Despite causing problems for the Wildcats, the Dawgs had trouble maintaining leads. Washington shot ahead, 22-15, with 8:11 remaining in the first period on a Katelan Redmon 3-pointer, but Arizona answered back by going on a 16-5 run to pull ahead 31-27 with 2:29 to go in the half.

“It was a struggle to start the game with them going on a run and then us going on a run,” Jackson said. “There were five lead changes. For us it was, ‘What are we going to do to stop them from going on those runs?’”

UW stopped the Arizona push and pulled ahead at the end of the first half, 35-33.

Then, following brief back and forth struggle early in the second half, the Dawgs went on a 19-4 advance of their own and finished off the final five minutes to claim victory over the Wildcats.

While the Husky women won the game and Jackson’s “rebounding war,” 33-28, it was the turnover war that stood out most in Saturday’s matchup.

Arizona committed 26 turnovers compared to Washington’s 25, but the Dawgs easily defeated the Cats by turning those 26 giveaways into 31 points. Many of those opportunities went inside to senior Andrea Plouffe, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, and freshman Jess McCormack, who dropped in 15 points and grabbed eight boards.

McCormack, who sat out three consecutive contests due to a concussion, played 23 minutes and went a team best 7 for 8 from the free-throw line.

Jackson wanted to be cautious playing McCormack for too long, but couldn’t resist when she started to dominate inside.

“I was not going to play her more than two minutes at a time, but I’m not a big fan of reinventing the wheel either,” Jackson said. “She was killing, so I said ‘Well, I have to play her.’ She was fine and she played like it.”

The strong inside presence made it easier for outside shooters Redmon and Michelle Augustavo to get good looks from the perimeter. Redmon led the Dawgs with 18 points on eight for 13 shooting, while Augustavo knocked down four 3-pointers to pad her point total to 14.

“It gives us a lot more inside presence,” Redmon said of the down-low duo of Plouffe and McCormack. “It puts me out on the wing so [small forwards] are not struggling on the inside with those 6-foot-7 girls.”

Jackson, who believes the Dawgs have the talent but not yet the consistency to prove their dominance, realizes the importance of next weekend’s matchup when Washington State comes to Seattle to face off in the women’s basketball Apple Cup.

“It’s another big game,” Jackson said. “We can’t take any one lightly; we haven’t consistently shown that we are what we were today.”

[Reach reporter Allen Wagner at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]