After watching the tape of Washington’s 30-point loss to Arizona, women’s basketball head coach Tia Jackson and her players couldn’t believe the Husky effort they were seeing.

“We were all sitting back in our chairs going, ‘Who is that?’” Jackson said at yesterday’s press conference. “Honestly, we just had no gas whatsoever from the jump, and it was unfortunate.”

The lack of energy led to an 80-50 loss Saturday to the Wildcats, who simply came out with more energy and urgency, for whatever reason.

“We definitely didn’t have what they had,” senior guard Sami Whitcomb said. “We weren’t matching them in energy and effort across the board, and I don’t know why.”

Whatever energy they didn’t have in the desert last weekend, they’ll need this weekend, because one of the nation’s top programs will visit Hec Edmunson Pavilion Friday.

No. 2 Stanford comes to town in the second matchup this season between the two teams. Some would argue that the game comes at a bad time for the struggling Huskies, who have lost six of seven conference games.

But Jackson says her team is ready for another challenge. And this time, she expects more energy.

“I don’t know if it’s ever a great time to face the No. 2 team in the country, but it’s a great challenge for us,” she said. “We know the areas that we need to improve upon. I don’t see the [lack of energy] being a problem this weekend.”

And after watching the tape Monday, Whitcomb and her teammates know that at this point in the season, bringing anything less than 100 percent on game day is simply not an option.

“After we watched film, we sort of had to regroup, refocus and think about what we want to do with the seven games that we have left,” the senior said. “It’s really going to take a lot more than what we did than in that Arizona game.”

MCLELLAN HAS IMPRESSIVE WEEKEND

After injuring her knee during Thursday’s overtime loss at Arizona State, sophomore center Regina Rogers is set to return to the starting lineup this Friday.

Her return comes after senior Laura McLellan put together her best performances of the season last weekend. The senior had 36 points in two games and provided much of the offense in the post.

As a starter in the Arizona loss, McLellan was 9-17 with 18 points in 29 minutes of play. But Jackson doesn’t seem like she’s going to switch up the starting lineup as long as Rogers is healthy.

Jackson had a very, very simple answer when asked if she thought McLellan was a better player as a starter.

“No,” she said. “I don’t.”

Losing Rogers last weekend really hurt the Huskies on the boards. Jackson thinks that with Rogers in the Arizona State game, the ending could have been much different.

“If you insert a Regina, it could be a different outcome,” Jackson said. “Losing her midway through the second half, we had to find a different fuel and a different way to attack them, because [Rogers] was on fire.”

With the Huskies at a huge height disadvantage to the Stanford posts, they’ll need all the fire they can get this weekend.

Reach Sports Editor Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.