Husky women fall to Pepperdine

The UW women's basketball team could not stop Pepperdine's shooting barrage last night, as they fell to the Wave 56-74 at Bank of America Arena.

It took just 11 seconds for senior Pepperdine guard Daphanie Kennedy to hit the first of her five 3-pointers, as Washington's non-conference opponent nailed basket after basket all night, never giving up the lead. The Waves, with the help of Kennedy's 33 points, led by as many as 29 late in the second half.

"They call it being in the zone," Washington coach Tia Jackson said of Kennedy's performance. "Once you're in the zone it's really tough to get out of it."

Kennedy had all kinds of open looks, going 13-for-23 from the field and scoring almost half of her points from beyond the arc.

On the UW side, freshman guard/center Katelan Redmon led the Dawgs with 17 points on eight of 15 shooting, while senior guard Emily Florence pulled 10 boards for Washington.

Despite some offensive success, Jackson said the Husky women were unable to execute their defensive strategies and were too slow to double team.

"We did the right thing on the defensive end when we were double-teaming," Jackson said. "But we didn't sustain."

Redmon agreed with Jackson's assessment, but maintained that the team could still overcome the loss.

"We'll bounce back," Redmon said. "We just need to pick up our defense a little more, but we'll be fine."

Their first home loss comes as freshman forward/center Jess McCormack made a surprise return to the lineup after missing time due to injury. McCormack played 10 minutes and scored two points on two foul shots.

"I don't want her first game back to be full blow against Ohio State," Jackson said. "I had to get her some minutes so she could get back into the basketball flow of the game."

The Husky women now travel to Boise State Friday before returning home to face No. 17 Ohio State Dec. 16.

[Reach reporter Allen Wagner at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]