University of Washington
Stanford
No. 25 Huskies Fall At No. 16 Stanford
January 30, 2016 | Women's Basketball
STANFORD, Calif. – Washington entered Friday's game with Stanford ranked in the AP Top-25 for the first time in 13 years, but could overcome an even longer drought, winning in Palo Alto. The Huskies fell 69-53 as they still haven't won at Stanford since 1999.
Kelsey Plum led the Dawgs with 23 points, but Washington struggled to put the ball in the basket all night. The Huskies shot just 25.4 percent (16-63) for the game and just 27.6 percent (8-29) from 3-point range.
Meanwhile the Cardinal were hot to start the game and finished by shooting 45 percent, while also outrebounding the Dawgs 49-30.
Stanford led by as many as 16 in the first quarter as Lili Thompson had the hot hand, scoring 17 points, including 5-5 from 3-point range. The Dawgs did finish the period with an Alexus Atchley 3-pointer on a nice find from Plum to get to 26-13 at the end of one.
The Huskies picked things up at the defensive end in the second quarter, but continued to struggle shooting the ball. The Dawgs finished the half just 7-31 from the floor, including 3-14 from 3-point range. Kelli Kingma knocked down a 3-pointer near the end of the half, but the Cardinal scored at the buzzer to lead 40-23 at half.
The third quarter was more of the same as the Dawgs held Stanford to just 12 points, but scored only 11 themselves. Plum did most of the damage from the foul line as the Huskies continued to struggle shooting from distance, going 0-6 from 3-point range.
Washington outscored Stanford in the final quarter, but it was too little too late for the Dawgs. Kingma, Talia Walton and Chantel Osahor all made-3-pointers, but the Dawgs hole was too deep.
In addition to Plum's 23, Walton also finished in double figures with 10, while Osahor was the top rebounder with nine. The Huskies did force 17 turnovers as Walton finished with five steals, but could not convert those into points, scoring just nine off turnovers.
The lone bright spot was probably Kingma, who knocked down both of her 3's for six points in 15 minutes off the bench.
The Huskies will be right back at it on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Berkeley to face California. The Golden Bears won a late 3-pointer to defeat Washington State and improve to 11-9 and 2-7 in Pac-12 play. Tip is set for 2 p.m. for a game broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
