The Washington women’s basketball team couldn’t make a three-pointer when it mattered and did a woeful job of defending the perimeter, which resulted in a 66-54 nonconference loss to Liberty on Sunday afternoon in the Husky Classic, snapping the Huskies’ eight-game home winning streak.
Since a hiccup in a Thanksgiving tournament in Las Vegas, it’s been mostly smooth sailing for Washington, which won its past three games by 11, 26 and 16 points while allowing an average of 47.7 points.
The Huskies entered the game ranked No. 89 in NET while the Flames were 176th.
The key stat of the game: Washington converted just 4 of 28 three-pointers while Liberty was 9-for-18 behind the arc.
The Huskies were on top for more than 18 minutes in the first half, but they lost control of the game shortly after building their largest lead.
Backup center Darcy Rees connected on a short jumper that put Washington up 24-11 with 5:36 left in the second quarter. The Huskies connected on 11 of their first 24 shots while Liberty was 4-of-17 from the field.
From there, everything flipped, and the Flames, well, got hot and began torching the UW offensively.
Liberty made nine of its next 10 shots during a 24-7 run that included six three-pointers.
Junior forward Jordan Bailey drained a three as time expired in the first half that gave the Flames a 35-31 lead at the break.
It took Liberty about five minutes to stretch its lead to 43-34 and Washington went down 48-37 late in the third quarter.
The Huskies fell behind by 17 points (61-44) midway in the fourth period before using a full-court press to force turnovers and spark a 6-0 run to cut their deficit to 61-50.
Haley Van Dyke finished with 13 points and Hannah Stines 12 for UW (8-2, 1-0), which plays SIUE at noon Tuesday.