UW Women's Basketball Notebook: Huskies Losing Streak is Bubblicious
Week of February 3 - 9: Washington hopes to end losing skid and revive tourney hopes
Overall Record: 13-9
Big 10 Record: 4-6
Net Ranking: 53
Last Week’s Recap
The Huskies opened the week at home against a good Indiana team and played similar defense as they did against Iowa. Which is to say…bad. Maybe they should use the SeaTown Sports’ notebook as a scouting report to shore up the defensive end. From last week: “Just don’t let Yarden Garzon get hot from deep as she shoots 37% from 3”. Well, Garzon went 8-10 from three point range on her way to 35 points in a 73-70 Hoosiers victory. At some point, face guard the player who isn’t missing. Stop helping off her.
Washington continued a disappointing week with a road loss to Ohio State where Sayvia Sellers and Elle Ladine combined to shoot 3-of-27 from the field. You can read that again. The Dawgs aren’t beating anyone with talent when their two best players can’t hit shots.
Player of the Week
Dalayah Daniels is the only consistent performer on the Huskies roster right now. And she isn’t just consistent, she is outplaying other bigs in the conference. In two games this week, Daniels averaged 17 points, five rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks.
Stat of the Week
Sayvia Sellers shot 6 of 25 from the field this week, including 2 of 12 from three point range.
This Coming Week
Washington travels to Penn State on Wednesday, February 5th at 3:00 pm (Big 10 network).
If winning one of the Indiana or Iowa games was must win, what does that make this game? A must must win? The Huskies have to find a way to get a win at Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 1-10 in conference play, but that win came against Ohio State. Make sense of that. Penn State is led by Gracie Merkle’s 15.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. If you thought Addison O’Grady at Iowa was a problem for the Dawgs, watch out for Merkle.
Washington hosts #16 Maryland for National Girls & Women in Sports Day on Sunday, February 9th at 1:00 pm (Big 10 network).
Maryland is led by future WNBA lottery pick Shyanne Sellers (14 points per game) and Kaylene Smikle (17.3 points per game). The Terps are a weird team. They are ranked in the top 25 and have a net ranking of 25, but have now lost four of their last five games. Of course, three of those four losses were to top 12 teams in the country. The Huskies may not be able to compete with Maryland, but a win would greatly boost tournament chances.
National Games to Watch
#8 Ohio State at #1 UCLA
Wednesday, February 5th at 6:30 pm on Peacock
#5 UConn at #19 Tennessee
Thursday, February 6th at 3:30 pm on ESPN
#8 Ohio State at #7 USC
Saturday, February 8th at 6:00 pm on Fox
#2 South Carolina at #4 Texas
Sunday, February 9th at 11:00 am on ESPN
Big 10 Standings
Big 10 record and net ranking in parentheses
UCLA (9-0, #4)
USC (9-1, #6)
Ohio State (9-1, #15)
Michigan State (8-3, #16)
Illinois (7-4, #32)
Maryland (7-4, #25)
Nebraska (7-4, #37)
Oregon (7-4, #36)
Indiana (6-4, #39)
Minnesota (6-5, #29)
Michigan (6-5, #27)
Iowa (5-6, #31)
Washington (4-6, #53)
Wisconsin (2-9, #113)
Penn State (1-10, #74)
Rutgers (1-10, #107)
Purdue (1-10, #138)
Northwestern (0-9, #126)
Nice work guys!