University of Washington
UC Davis
Late Shot Sinks Huskies In Regular-Season Opener, 69-68
November 11, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2011
Final Stats | Press Conference Video
Washington/UC-Davis Photo Gallery
SEATTLE - Win or lose, Kevin McGuff had planned on using this regular-season opener as an important teaching moment for his team.
He just would have preferred to build off a victory.
The Washington women's basketball team gave up a layup with 7.7 seconds left that lifted UC-Davis to a 69-68 win over the Huskies at Alaska Airlines Arena on Friday afternoon. With no timeouts, the Huskies quickly advanced the ball into the frontcourt but Mercedes Wetmore missed a 20-footer just before time expired.
Despite the outcome, there was a raft of positives for the Huskies. Regina Rogers led all scorers with 21 points and 10 rebounds, overpowering the undersized Aggies in the low post. The redshirt senior made 9-of-11 shots from the field, and it was her three-point play with 22 seconds remaining that gave UW a temporary 68-67 lead.
But the Huskies were caught out of position defensively on the next possession, as Blair Shinoda knifed into the paint and made the game-winning layup.
McGuff told reporters after the game this was a cold introduction to his young players to college basketball. He liked the passion, energy and enthusiasm his team displayed throughout the game. Where he wants to see improvement is on the defensive end. The Huskies held UC-Davis to 39 percent from the floor, but allowed the Aggies' Princeton offense to convert baskets at critical moments.
"Bottom line is just that we have a lot of things we need to get better at. We made a lot of mistakes," McGuff said. "It wasn't for lack of want, or effort, or intensity, or togetherness. We're just at a point where we need to make a lot of improvements."
Jazmine Davis had an impressive debut for the Huskies, nearly compiling a triple-double on the strength of 11 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. There were some typical freshman miscues, but McGuff lauded what Davis brought to the point guard position. Several of those assists came during a flurry in the second half, as the Huskies rallied from a two-point deficit and built a 13-point lead. Facing a mobile Aggie zone defense, the Huskies used crisp ball movement to find Rogers in the low block for easy layups. This, of course, was by design.
"It a point of emphasis to move the ball and to look [inside]," McGuff said. "Obviously, she's an outstanding talent, and we wanted to get her more touches and just make a conscious effort of it. She did a great job making herself available at the basket and finishing."
When shots weren't falling, the Huskies would crash the boards, out-rebounding the smaller Aggies 50-29.
The Huskies just didn't have the answers defensively down the stretch. Davis hit 13-of-34 3-pointers, but several came during the last four minutes. Cortney French, who tied for the team-lead with 12 points, hit two back-breaking 3's late to put UC-Davis in a position to win.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Aggie players mobbed Shinoda at midcourt and whooped their way to the visitor's locker room. But there were no second-guessing moments for the Huskies. The goal has always been to improve each day here out, and McGuff is dedicated to this process.
"You're going to endure some thrilling victories and some tough defeats," McGuff said. "For us and where we are, and where I am as a coach, I think we have to stay focused on the process and a lot of the things we need to work on, we would've needed to work on win or lose. It would've certainly been a lot better to work on it after a win, but the bottom line is that we just have a lot of areas we need to work on."
