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Frosh Aminah Williams has developed into a reliable off-the-bench scorer/rebounder for Huskies.
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March 16, 2012
WNIT Notes: Washington
| WNIT Notes: Utah
Unlike the Huskies' first matchup in the WNIT, this opponent needs no introduction. The second round of the women's basketball postseason event pits Washington and Utah together, giving the Huskies a chance to redeem themselves after a heartbreaking OT loss to the Utes in the regular season.
The Utes advanced after rallying from a 14-point deficit to Utah State, pulling away for a 69-58 victory in Salt Lake City. Utah, which is in its first season in the Pac-12, finished in seventh place during regular-season play. All-Pac-12 performer Taryn Wicijowski led the Utes with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Huskies are coming off their best offensive performance of the year, scoring a season-high 90 points in a win over Cal Poly. Regina Rogers equaled her career-high with 27 points and 14 rebounds as the Huskies throttled the Big West regular-season champs.
Broadcast/Media
For regular season and postseason games, 13-year veteran Steve Sandmeyer handles all play-by-play duties for the Washington Huskies on KKNW 1150AM. Sandmeyer will be joined on the road by former UW letterwinner Elise (Niemela) Woodward.
The first-round game will not be televised but will be streamed w/o audio on GoHuskies.com.
Live stats for the game will be available on GameTracker. Fans can also participate in an GoHuskies chat during the game.
Husky Storylines
Jazmine Davis became the first Husky since Karen Deden in 1988 to win the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Award. She was also selected to the All-Pac-12 list with teammate Regina Rogers. Charmaine Barlow was honorable mention All-Defensive Team.
Davis is 12 points away from becoming the all-time leading freshman scorer in team history. She would pass Loree Payne, who totaled 521 points in 2000 with the Huskies.
The Huskies rank 30th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to 35.4 percent from the floor.
The Huskies shot a season-high 55 percent against Cal Poly. It's only the second time this season the Huskies have made 50 percent or more of their attempts.
Regina Rogers is third in the nation in field goal percentage, making 61 percent of her attempts.
The Huskies are looking for win No. 13 at Alaska Airlines Arena this season. It would be the most since the the 2001 season.
Washington is three wins away from notching No. 700 as a program.
WNIT Notes
The Huskies are 5-3 in Women's National Invitational Tournament Games, having made three appearances (1999, 2002 & 2004) in the postseason event. Washington has never failed to win at least one game in the WNIT.
The at-large berth in the WNIT is the Huskies' first traditional postseason selection since the 2007 NCAA Tournament. A Pac-12 member school has been in the final game of the WNIT the last two seasons, including a Cal win in 2010. The Conference went 4-0 in WNIT games to start the 2012 Tournament.
About Utah
The University of Utah is located in Salt Lake City, and is one of two recent additions to the Pac-12 Conference, making the move this summer from the Mountain West Conference. The Utes play their home games at the Huntsman Center.
The Utes are coached by Anthony Levrets, who has coached for several years in the Pacific Northwest. The second-year head coach has stops at Southern Oregon, Willamette (Ore.) and Lane College (Ore.). He took over the top spot at Utah following the retirement of Elaine Elliott, who had coached for 31 years at UU.
Michelle Plouffe leads the Utes in scoring with 14.0 points per game. The 6-4 sophomore from Edmonton, Alberta, had a busy summer, touring Europe with the Canadian National Team before playing in the FIBA U19 World Championships in Chile.
Fellow Canadian Taryn Wicijowski returns to the Utes after missing most of last season with an ACL injury. The sophomore from Regina, Saskatchewan, was the MWC Freshman of the Year in 2009-10, and averages 13.2 ppg to go with 8.6 rebounds per contest.
Utah is next-to-last in the Pac-12 in scoring offense, averaging just 59.1 ppg. The Utes defend extraordinarily well, limiting their foes to 55.9 ppg, which is third in the league.
Series Record: This is the second meeting of the season between the Huskies and Utes. The first was a stinger for Washington, as Utah's Janita Badon hit a three-pointer with under five seconds left to send the game to overtime. It was one of just two field goals the Utes would make in 2nd half. Utah went on to win, 49-36.
Noteworthy: Plouffe is a name familiar to Husky fans, as Michelle's older sister Andrea was a four-year letterwinner for the Dawgs (2005-08).
Up Next For The Huskies
Should Washington win, the Huskies would face the winner of Oregon State & St. Mary's at a location TBD on March 21, 22 or 23.