If the Washington women’s basketball team’s motto this season is “bigger and better,” it sure didn’t show yesterday at Gonzaga.

One year after falling to the Bulldogs by just five points at home, the UW (1-2) didn’t exactly do it “better” this time around. Instead, they were out-rebounded 55-35 and shot 30 percent from the field as Gonzaga (2-1) took control early and never looked back, winning 81-52 in front of a near-capacity crowd of 4,259 Sunday afternoon in Spokane.

“I don’t think we had the focus that was necessary to come out on top,” head coach Tia Jackson said. “Our focus wasn’t where it needed to be in rebounding and the fast break.”

The Huskies never regained the lead after sophomore Regina Rogers made the first basket of the game. In the first six minutes, the Bulldogs went on an 18-2 run off of 10 fast-break points. The UW cut that lead to 18-10 but never got any closer as Gonzaga took a 45-24 lead into halftime and extended it in the second half.

Gonzaga guard Katelan Redmon lit up her former squad, shooting 9-12 from the floor as the redshirt sophomore finished with a game-high 18 points. Redmon played her freshman year at UW, averaging a team-high 11.8 points.

Senior guard Sami Whitcomb didn’t exactly replicate her 25-point performance Wednesday, making just two shots to finish with five points. Rogers led all Huskies with 12 points, but her 6-9 shooting was overshadowed by a team-high five turnovers. One game after dishing out seven assists, junior Sarah Morton struggled yesterday, shooting 1-7 from the field and finishing with just one assist.

“We didn’t really find our niche,” Jackson said. “We had moments where we looked good, but we couldn’t sustain that.”

The Huskies haven’t been able to find the offense they want in the past two games. A 40-percent shooting night last Wednesday was overshadowed by Whitcomb’s incredible performance. Yesterday, the Huskies only shot 30 percent from the field, compared to 45.1 percent for Gonzaga.

“[Gonzaga] extended their pressure quite a bit,” Jackson said. “When teams pressure us, we tend to not play our game and start thinking too much. We didn’t really find our rhythm.”

Defending the fast break was also an issue. The UW could only muster two fast-break points while Gonzaga scored nearly half of its points on the fast break.

“When she gets a head of steam, she’s hard to stop,” Jackson said. “It extended our guards, and we ended up playing catch-up instead of slowing them down.”

The Huskies will have nearly a week to improve on their poor performance yesterday. They host the 23rd annual Husky Classic, which begins Friday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Reach reporter Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.