Huskies' home winning streak ends

Over and over again this season, the Washington women have found a way to turn adversity into victory on the basketball court.

On Saturday, the Huskies saw how the other half lives.

USC took advantage as UW went scoreless over the final two minutes and snapped the Huskies' 12-game home winning streak with a 64-61 Pac-10 victory at Edmundson Pavilion.

Trojans junior guard Eshaya Murphy had game highs of 19 points, eight rebounds and seven steals as USC (12-5, 6-2) leapfrogged ahead of Washington (12-4, 5-2) into second place in the conference.

"It's a great win for us," USC coach Mark Trakh said. "You're beating a quality opponent on the road. They've been very, very successful and have a lot of quality wins."

The loss was just the second in nine games for Washington, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. The Huskies, who last lost at home to Stanford 82-60 last Jan. 27, fell to 8-1 in Seattle this season.

The victory was the fourth straight for the surging Trojans, including a road sweep of the Washington schools.

The game had 18 lead changes and 14 ties. Washington led 61-60 after junior guard Cameo Hicks converted a fast-break layup with 2:08 left, but the Huskies did not score again, missing three field goals and five straight free throws that could have tied the game or put them ahead.

For the game, Washington made just 4 of 13 free throws.

"It's disappointing to have our opportunities to close it out and not be able to seal it off with our free throws," UW coach June Daugherty said. "We were getting the stops we needed.

"I'm confident our team will hit them next time. Tonight just wasn't our night."

After Trojans point guard Camille LeNoir hit two free throws to make it 64-61 with 7.8 seconds remaining, the Huskies had one last chance. But senior Kristen O'Neill's long three-point attempt under heavy pressure by LeNoir was well off the mark.

Senior guard Meghan Gnekow had put USC ahead 62-61 with two free throws after pulling down the last of the Trojans' 14 offensive boards with 1:30 to play.

Washington, which entered the game averaging a Pac-10-best 18.5 offensive rebounds, managed just seven Saturday as USC had 18 second-chance points to 10 for the Huskies. The visitors won the overall rebounding battle 40-25.

Emily Florence, the Huskies' 5-foot-5 junior point guard, led Washington with 13 points and seven rebounds. O'Neill added 10 points off the bench but managed just 1-for-9 shooting from three-point range as USC effectively extended its zone defense on UW's shooters.

It was the first game this season for the Huskies without senior guard Kayla Burt, hospitalized Thursday after her heart defibrillator activated during UW's win over UCLA.

She was on the bench in street clothes but was not available for comment after the game. The team had no update on her status for this week's games at Oregon State and Oregon.

USC (12-5, 6-2 PAC-10)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Jaskowiak	22	2-2	0-1	2-3	4	3	4
Kerr	26	3-5	0-1	3-6	1	1	6
LeNoir	27	7-16	2-2	2-3	4	3	18
Gnekow	26	2-6	4-4	2-7	1	2	8
Murphy	31	7-16	1-2	4-8	5	2	19
Hagiya	19	0-4	0-0	0-1	1	3	0
Cameron	18	0-2	0-0	0-1	0	1	0
Lea	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Funn	18	2-4	1-2	0-4	2	1	5
Parker	12	2-3	0-0	0-2	0	3	4
	200	25-58	8-12	14-40	18	19	64

Percentages: FG .431, FT .667. Three-point goals: 6-23, (LeNoir 2-6, Gnekow 0-3, Murphy 4-10, Hagiya 0-2, Cameron 0-2). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 1, (Hagiya). Turnovers: 21, (Jaskowiak, Kerr 3, LeNoir 5, Gnekow 2, Murphy 3, Hagiya 2, Cameron, Funn, Parker 3). Steals: 10, (Kerr, Gnekow, Murphy 7, Funn).

WASHINGTON (12-4, 5-2)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Watson	20	3-5	0-2	0-2	2	2	7
Plouffe	22	2-4	0-2	0-0	1	3	4
Florence	30	5-9	0-1	2-7	5	3	13
Hicks	29	3-6	2-2	1-4	5	4	9
Banks	20	2-6	0-0	1-1	0	0	4
Bell	20	3-9	0-2	1-2	1	2	6
Craddock	8	2-2	0-0	0-2	0	0	5
Castro	4	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0
O'Hara	18	1-1	1-2	0-3	1	0	3
O'Neill	29	4-13	1-2	1-2	4	0	10
	200	25-55	4-13	7-25	20	14	61

Percentages: FG .455, FT .308. Three-point goals: 7-25, (Watson 1-1, Florence 3-7, Hicks 1-2, Banks 0-1, Bell 0-4, Craddock 1-1, O'Neill 1-9). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 0, (). Turnovers: 16, (Watson 3, Plouffe 2, Florence 4, Hicks 2, Banks, Bell 2, O'Neill 2). Steals: 10, (Watson, Hicks 2, Banks, O'Hara 3, O'Neill 3).

USC	28	36	—	64
Washington	31	30	—	61

Attendance: 2,895. Officials: Mazetta Garrett, Rick Showers, Darren Krzesnik. Technical fouls: USC-None. Washington-None.