January 16, 1999
EUGENE, Ore. - The University of Oregon, behind the outstanding breakout performance of freshman guard Shaquala Williams, downed the University of Washington Huskies, 70-56, for the sixth-consecutive time, in front of 6,035 fans, the fifth-largest crowd ever to watch a women's basketball game at Mac Court. It was also the largest crowd to watch a women's basketball game at Mac Court in the month of January and against the Huskies. The Ducks improve to 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-10. It is the best start under Head Coach Jody Runge and equals the second-best start in the school's 25-year history. Washington falls to 7-6 overall and 3-1 in conference play. "The second half, I thought Shaq did a great job breaking things open in the spread offense and making some big plays," said Oregon Head Coach Jody Runge. "That's what kind of broke it open and it gave us some room to breathe and play a lot better defensively with fouling." "We knew Oregon was strong defensively. We needed to be in a situation where we could make better decisions and take care of the basket - we just didn't get there," said Washington Head Coach June Daugherty. "I have to give credit to Oregon's defense, they did a great job today." In what was Williams' first career start, she racked up a double-double, recording game- and career- highs in both points (25) and rebounds (11). She was a perfect 5-for-5 from the foul line and was a nearly perfect 10-for- 12 from the field. "I think when I first got to college, the game was so much faster," noted Williams. "Now the flow is there for me and I'm seeing things a lot better. I'm having lots of fun. When you have 25 points and 11 rebounds, I don't think you can say that is not fun." Washington jumped out to an early three-point lead, holding a 13-10 advantage at the 10:10 mark in the first half. The Ducks fought back and went ahead 14-13 at 9:01 on a Jenny Mowe layup and never looked back, building a lead as high as nine points (30-21) with 2:24 left to go in the first stanza. The Huskies scored the final four point to cut the lead to 30-25 at halftime. In the second half, Washington tied the game at 36 apiece but Oregon went on a 15-4 run to jump out ahead by the score of 51-40. The Huskies would get as close as six points but never made a real threat to take over. "This game was a tremendous challenge for us and we told our players that they (Washington) would be coming in here trying to knock our block off," continued Runge. "They did a good job of that, fortunately we were able to get their three-point shooters under control." Also registering double digits in scoring for Oregon was sophomore Jenny Mowe and Lindsey Dion, pouring in 10 points each. Amber Hall was Washington's leading scorer with 18 points while Jamie Redd scored 14 points and had seven turnovers. Oregon will host Washington State on Sunday (Jan. 17) at 1:00 p.m. The game will be shown live by Fox Sports Net.
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