Huskies use late run to overcome Arizona

Down 15 points with just over nine minutes remaining in last Saturday's Pac-10 season finale with Arizona, it looked like the Washington women's basketball team was going to bow out of the second half like they have so many times this year.

But in college basketball, especially as March Madness approaches and housemaids become Cinderellas, anything can happen.

What did happen was a Washington comeback. The Huskies bucked history, slipped on the glass slipper, made an 18-0 run and held on for a 64-60 victory in Tucson, Ariz.

"When we were down by 15 in the second half, I don't think anybody in this building thought we were going to win, except for us," junior Kayla Burt said. "We never had any doubts. We have come back from being down this year. We are a young team, and we played big."

Tied at 40 with 13 minutes left in the game, Arizona, fueled by seven points from Dee-Dee Wheeler, took control and scored 15 unanswered points.

"We had to stay aggressive," UW coach June Daugherty said. "I think everybody at that point relaxed and said, 'OK, we have work to do. Let's do it.'"

Burt stroked a three to begin what would be eight minutes of dominance by the Huskies (13-15 overall, 9-9 Pac-10). Burt scored eight points in that span, including her career-high sixth 3-pointer of the game.

Sophomore Jill Bell hit her first career three in the run, and when fellow sophomore Breanne Watson made a basket, Washington held a 59-55 lead with just less than three minutes left.

Wheeler kept the Wildcats (19-10, 11-7) in the game, scoring four points in the final span, but the Huskies ensured the victory from the charity stripe, hitting five of six free throws down the stretch. Burt hit the last two.

"I thought our kids were committed to playing hard and were not getting caught up in the score and the adversity of going down by 15," Daugherty said. "I thought we were a team of poise down the stretch. We kept chipping away one at a time."

Burt finished with a career-high 23 points, with 17 coming in the second half. Her six 3-pointers were one shy of the school record held by Loree Payne (2002) and Megan Franza (2001).

"(Burt) is everybody's hero," Daugherty said. "She takes a charge. She hits the free throws. She makes the threes. She is so competitive and such a great leader. I am glad she is on my side."

The teams entered the second half with Washington trailing 28-26. They traded basket for basket until Arizona's run.

Watson and Kristen O'Neill each scored 11 points for the Dawgs, and Watson led the team with eight rebounds.

Wheeler led the Wildcats with 19 points and Shawntinice Polk added a 14-point, 11-rebound performance.

"This is huge; it is great," Daugherty said. "We are going to build on it this week. We have a heck of a lot more basketball in us this year."

The win snaps a nine-game Husky losing streak at Arizona and gives them some momentum heading into next week's Pac-10 Tournament. Washington, as the No. 7 seed, faces No. 10 seed Oregon State, a team the Huskies swept during the regular season, Friday in San Jose, Calif. The winner of that game goes on to play Oregon, the No. 2 seed, Saturday.