Freshman Heather Corral wrestles for the ball with Stanford's Joslyn Tinkle during the first half. Corral and the Huskies struggled all night to score with starters Jazmine Davis and Talia Walton suspended.
Thursday night, the Washington women’s basketball team won the first three minutes and 27 seconds against No. 4 Stanford. The Cardinal won everything else.
Without leading scorer Jazmine Davis and three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Talia Walton, the Huskies were outmuscled, outgunned, and outplayed by the Cardinal. Davis, Walton, and redshirt freshman Deborah Meeks were suspended for violating team rules and watched the UW’s 71-36 loss to the Cardinal from the sideline.
“We got beat by a great team,” head coach Kevin McGuff said. “They deserve to win by as many as they won by, because they’re that good.”
The 36-point night from the UW (19-9, 11-6 Pac-12) was a new season-low. The Huskies were held to 12-of-71 shooting, another season-worst.
The Huskies were active on the defensive end to start, and they even opened up a six-point lead after sophomore Aminah Williams sank a jumper in the paint at the 16:33 mark of the first half.
From there, the Cardinal (27-2, 16-1) started to assert its dominance.
Forward Bonnie Samuelson burned the Huskies from long range while All-American candidate Chiney Ogwumike and 6-foot-3 Joslyn Tinkle pounded them down low. Stanford strung together a 12-0 run to take back the lead. The Cardinal didn’t give it up.
The Cardinal’s length and size frustrated the Huskies into an abysmal 6-of-40 first half from the field. The UW’s signature shot — the 3-pointer, which has saved the Huskies in many games this season — was nowhere to be found. The Huskies finished the night 4-of-24 from behind the arc.
Against Stanford, which can dominate from both down low and downtown, opponents are often forced to pick their poison. The Huskies chose to focus on the paint, and they got torched from the outside as a result.
Stanford was 7-of-21 from long range in the first period.
Despite being dominated on the scoreboard in the first half, the Huskies outrebounded the bigger Cardinal, 24-23, thanks to a scrappy effort from the 6-foot Williams, who grabbed eight rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
At least in part making up for Walton’s absence, Williams finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds and was the lone bright spot for the UW on a night when the Huskies were left seeing a whole lot of red.
“The coaches made it clear that we shouldn’t be intimidated just because they’re Stanford, just because they’re big,” Williams said. “I just tried to bring intensity and I just tried to bring effort.”
A 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer from junior Mercedes Wetmore energized the crowd of 1,911 going into intermission, but the Huskies couldn’t be revived after the break.
The UW opened the second half much like it played the first half. Nothing could find the bottom of the net, and Ogwumike promptly took over the game in the paint. The 6-foot-4 junior finished with a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds.
The Huskies managed only six field goals in the second half on 6-of-31 shooting and were held scoreless for almost seven minutes to start the final period.
After getting pounded by Stanford, the UW will get Davis, Walton, and Meeks back for their next game this Saturday. The Huskies will need all the help they can get against No. 6 California.
Reach reporter Thuc Nhi Nguyen at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @thucnhi21
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