University of Washington
Arizona
Davis, Rogers Key Offensive Outburst As Huskies Roll
January 26, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2012
Red Box Photogallery | Postgame Press Conference
SEATTLE - The hot topic all week had been fixing the Huskies' moribund offense, with Kevin McGuffinsisting that an emphasis on sharing the ball would be the key to any Washington turnaround.
His prediction couldn't have been more accurate, as a commitment to ball movement helped end a dry shooting spell for the Dawgs and halt a two-game losing streak with a 77-48 win over Arizona on Thursday night.
Jazmine Davis set a new career-high with 28 points and Regina Rogersadded 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies, who improved to 11-7, 3-5 in the Pac-12. For Davis, the scoring mark tied former star Loree Payne for fourth place all-time as a freshman.
More importantly, the Huskies recorded 13 assists to just nine turnovers, proof that McGuff's charge was put into action.
All of this came against a quality Arizona (13-7, 2-6) squad that featured one of the best individual scorers in the Pac-12 in Davellyn Whyte.
"We played with much better pace, and we moved the ball better," McGuff said. "We did get better shots tonight, but sometimes it is just about making shots and we made them."
Washington made 29 of 64 shots from the field, but it was the Huskies' crisp passing that had the Wildcats on their heels all night. Although Rogers finished with two assists, it was her ball movement out of double- and triple-teams that led to easy baskets. And U of A's insistence on limiting Rogers early opened the court for Davis, who scored 22 points in the first half. She punctuated a scintillating opening half with a layup just before time expired, giving her more points than the entire Arizona team (21).
In the second half, Davis handed the baton to Rogers and the redshirt senior went to work on the Arizona frontcourt, muscling through two and three players for layups. Rogers made 8 of 9 shots, with her best a nifty off-hand floater in the lane over two Wildcats.
At one point, the Huskies extended the lead to 36 points with 6:25 remaining before Arizona was able to whittle off the margin in garbage time.
The Huskies scored the first seven points of the game to force an Arizona timeout, and continued to exhibit the style of basketball McGuff has preached since arriving from Xavier. UW led by 28 at the half, mostly on the fireworks provided by Davis. The freshman point guard put her talents on display with an inside-outside game, knocking down shots from long range to complement her fearless drives to the basket.
Arizona, it seemed, could not recover. Whyte scored just 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting, as the Huskies rotated defenses and pressured her to give up the ball. Shanita Arnold came off the bench to lead U of A in scoring with 11 points.
"When you get into January and February, and you go through the tough stretch of the schedule, it's all about showing up and working hard," McGuff said. "...I think tonight was a reflection of a terrific week of practice."
