Women's Basketball: Each senior scores in Senior Night win

Saturday's senior night was a success, times six. The women's basketball team bid thanks and farewell to six senior players before its final home game against Oregon, and then went on to rout the Ducks 61-46.

All six seniors scored in the win, the Huskies third in a row and fifth in six games. More importantly, the victory clinched fourth place in the Pac-10 for Washington. The Dawgs (18-11, 11-7 Pac-10) next play USC on March 3 in San Jose, Calif. in the Pac-10 Tournament.

Washington and USC are familiar foes.

The game comes 366 days after the Trojans beat the Huskies 70-67 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10's. About a month ago, the Women of Troy handed the UW a 20-point loss.

"We are excited about having a rematch," said Husky coach June Daugherty. "We were very, very disappointed about the way we played down there at USC. We are looking forward to a third opportunity."

Washington earned the win by leading Oregon (16-12, 8-10) nearly the entire game. The Ducks scored first, but Husky point guard Emily Florence nailed a 3-pointer in response and her team never trailed. While they struggled on offense, the Dawgs dialed in their signature defense to get the win.

"I'm just really pleased that our defense came together and was able to force the turnovers, I think 24," Daugherty said. "That was the whole key going in, trying to negate the opportunity to run their offensive sets. We had pretty good success with that and trying to get into our running game."

The first half was a painful display of poor shooting. Both teams hovered around 30 percent while the Dawgs pieced together a five-point lead heading to the locker room.

"It has been the story all season. We have been winning games ugly. We are going to get it done on the defensive end, and through offensive rebounding," senior Cameo Hicks said.

Both teams suffered several scoring droughts.

"I thought that we didn't execute very well offensively in the first half," Daugherty said. "I thought that our shot selection wasn't where it needed to be. I thought we needed to move the basketball and swing it a little more, get a little bit more motion going."

The shooting improved in the second half, and the Huskies held a double-digit lead four minutes in.

"In the second half, people like Breanne [Watson] really took it to heart that we needed to face up and go to the hole a little more, and not just face up and throw the ball up against a big front line," Daugherty said. "I thought at halftime we made good adjustments."

Hicks led the Dawgs with 13 points and fellow senior Watson scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the team. Seniors Cheri Craddock, Jill Bell, Maggie O'Hara and Erica Schelly scored two points apiece.

Both of the team's recent loses to USC came on poor shooting nights, but Hicks said she only expects one thing from her team: to win.

"The expectation is always to win. If you don't do that, then it is always disappointing. But we are going to try our hardest to win this one," she said.

Reach reporter Sam Cameron at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.