It’s been 10 games since the Washington women’s basketball team recorded a win, all part of an ongoing slump that is the worst in school history.

“The monkey’s like a gorilla now,” junior guard Sami Whitcomb jokingly told reporters after being asked about the proverbial monkey on the Huskies’ back (a.k.a. the current losing streak).

What isn’t a joke is how the Huskies (5-16, 1-10 Pac-10) may have squandered two home game opportunities to squelch the losing streak when the Oregon schools came up to visit four weeks ago.

This week, the Huskies look for redemption against Oregon State (13-8, 4-7 Pac-10) Thursday and Oregon (8-14, 4-7 Pac-10) Saturday.

Even though the Beavers and Ducks beat the Huskies by a combined 34 points, UW players are confident about their chances this week.

“There is definitely a stronger sense of being able to beat the Oregons similar to how they beat us,” Whitcomb said. “I feel like we’re in a different place, I think we’re pretty confident going in there just playing a different game against them this time.”

UW head coach Tia Jackson also talked about how the Huskies might finally pull themselves together.

“[We] felt like we put some pretty good halves together,” Jackson told reporters. “Now it’s time for us to go down to Oregon and put a complete game together.”

While the Huskies have returned to full health and had a consistent starting lineup for three games, they are still struggling with scoring.

“It’s definitely a focus for us,” Whitcomb said of having extra shooting practice. “Especially as of late, just with not everyone feeling as confident with their shots.”

She described the Huskies’ supplementary shooting practice — between the end of class and beginning of practice — where every player has a shot chart detailing what shots she needs to work on.

Jackson added that she set up special game situations, such as when the team is trailing or leading or nearing the end of a half, in practice to help the Huskies deal with pressure situations.

The Huskies have also been working in pressure situations during free-throw practices — free throws have largely contributed to losses in recent games.

“It’s getting them to just shoot the ball, relax [and] not worry about what happened... just getting them mentally stronger in that regard [free-throw shooting],” Jackson said.

Reach reporter Honsen Lin at sports@dailyuw.com.