The Daily of the University of Washington

Women fall to USC after Friday win


And just like that, the Huskies’ win streak ends at one.


Photo by Kyle Scholzen.

Senior forward Heidi McNeill drives past a USC defender yesterday.


The UW women’s basketball team succumbed to a Trojan attack on senior day, losing 77-53 to USC.

The Huskies (6-19, 2-13 Pac-10) began a new losing streak after beating UCLA Friday, and the Trojans (14-11, 8-6 Pac-10) notched a season sweep over the Dawgs.

“I don’t think that anyone more than this team wanted to build off of that [UCLA win] and capitalize more than we did today,” said UW head coach Tia Jackson. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do it. We didn’t bring our A-plus-plus game today and we got to find a way now to put two wins together and really feel what victory feels like.”

For seniors Michelle Augustavo and Heidi McNeill, the USC game was their final one at home as Huskies.

“It was very nice to get a win on Friday,” Augustavo said. “I definitely wanted to get the win today, but I’m proud of our team ... because it’s been a tough year for us and a big adjustment because nobody is used to losing.”

Junior guard Sara Mosiman was disappointed about not getting the seniors a win as well.

“We definitely wanted to send them out with a victory — that Cal game last year was an awesome feeling,” Mosiman said. “Once we beat UCLA on Friday, we were hoping to get this last one, but we didn’t come together.”

Yesterday afternoon was quite the opposite game for the Huskies compared to Friday night.

The Dawgs shot 20-49 for 40.8 percent from the field against UCLA but were limited to 29.9 percent against USC.

“We didn’t start being aggressive until about the last media timeout in the first half; with about four minutes to go, we started to attack the zone; that is when we were playing our best basketball,” Jackson said. “It was a good game plan by USC. They knew we wanted to attack, so they extended their pressure to slow us down.”

The USC defense harassed the UW’s leading scorer, guard Sami Whitcomb.

“I felt [the defense] the whole game, [not just in] the first half; we knew what type of defense that they play coming in, it’s the same that they played when we were [in LA],” Whitcomb said.

In contrast to the Huskies’ last meeting against USC when she scored 26, Whitcomb scored just seven points yesterday. In fact, the Dawgs’ top two scorers, Whitcomb and Kristi Kingma, shot just 4-20 from the field against the Trojans and 7-36 on the weekend.

But it wasn’t just offense, the defensive disparity in the weekend’s games showed as well. The Huskies did well against the Bruins, limiting them to just 29.8 percent shooting from the field, while allowing 42.9 percent to the Trojans.

Jackson was particularly disappointed with the Huskies’ play on the glass, a common theme throughout the season. The Dawgs gave up 17 offensive rebounds.

“Overall, we’ve got some things we can learn from this game, but [collectively] we can take some positives away [from this weekend’s games],” Jackson said.

Reach reporter Honsen Lin at sports@dailyuw.com.


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