At times, the Washington women’s basketball team has been downright dominant on the defensive end while allowing 28, 39 and 49 points respectively during blowout wins this season.
Once again, the Huskies relied on a stingy and smothering defense that overwhelmed Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and proved to be the catalyst for a 71-40 victory in the final game at the Husky Classic on Tuesday afternoon at Alaska Airlines Arena.
It was the last nonconference game for Washington (9-2, 1-0 Pac-12), which resumes its conference schedule Dec. 30 against Colorado.
“Really proud of how we came out in this game,” coach Tina Langley said. “I thought we did a better job of setting the tone defensively. I thought our preparation continues to improve.
“I was talking to the team about how much we’ve grown throughout the nonconference and the lessons we’ve learned and how we got to continue to grow and develop.”
The Huskies used their matchup against SIUE to fine-tune a defense that allowed Liberty to shoot 48% from the field while connecting on 9 of 18 three-pointers in Sunday’s 66-54 loss.
Washington’s defense was significantly better against SIUE (1-10), which shot 25.4% from the field, including four of 19 on three-pointers.
“Much improved,” Langley said. “I thought we did a better job with ball pressure and guarding the perimeter and just understanding where we were helping from.”
The Huskies broke the game open with a 10-0 run early in the second quarter that extended their 20-15 lead to 30-15 with 4:07 left in the period.
During the decisive five-minute spurt, SIUE missed seven straight shots while Washington was 5 of 12 from the field, including two baskets by Elle Ladine, a couple of layups from Emma Grothaus and Dalayah Daniels and Jayda Noble capped the run with a putback.
Washington, which led 36-22 at halftime, outscored SIUE 14-2 in the third quarter. The Cougars were 1 of 15 from the field in the period.
“Just great defense and … knowing the scout,” said junior forward Lauren Schwartz. “I think we had a really great one-day turnaround, which helps us in Pac-12 play.”
The Huskies led 50-24 at the start of the fourth and did not allow SIUE to get within 21 points the rest of the way.
Washington finished the game on an 8-0 run while holding the Cougars missed eight straight shots and was scoreless over the final 3:24 minutes.
Daniels finished with 15 points and nine rebounds — both game highs — and Schwartz and Noble both had 11 points.
When the Huskies defend like they did Tuesday, it hardly matters that their perimeter offense continues to struggle and converted three of 14 three-pointers or they committed 21 turnovers, which is second highest for UW this season.
“Our effort never dipped and that was a big thing that we’ve been missing in some of the games we hadn’t pulled through,” said senior forward Haley Van Dyke who finished with six points, six rebounds and five steals. “We just didn’t let our energy dip at all.”
Washington ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in points allowed (55.9), fourth in opponents’ field goal percentage (35.4%) and third in rebounding (30.8), which begs the question: How good can the Husky defense get?
“We’re so deep,” Van Dyke said. “All of us are super athletic and can guard pretty much anyone. Based on that I think we can be really, really good on defense. We’re just scratching the surface. We have a lot to go, but I think we’re definitely improving every game.”