UW Women's Basketball | Huskies run down early by Zags

SPOKANE — It's tough enough to start a new season with five road games as the Washington women's basketball team is doing.

And it's even tougher opening with a new coach and five new players. Gonzaga, a school returning most of its key players from a 24-10 NCAA tournament team last season, took advantage by opening a 22-point halftime lead on the way to a 91-72 victory before 2,352 at the McCarthey Athletic Center on Monday night.

But UW sophomore guard Sami Whitcomb, who had career highs of 16 points and five assists, was having none of it.

"I'd love to put the blame on something, make an excuse for why we're not doing as well as we should be doing," said Whitcomb after UW's second loss to start first-year coach Tia Jackson's tenure. "We all trust our coach, we all love coach Jackson, we're all glad she's here, she knows what she's doing and we all really need to buy into it now.

"I feel like we do, but we're not playing like we do and that's really going to be a key for us at home or away."

After opening the season with an 88-61 loss at Kansas State on Saturday, the Huskies returned to the Northwest hoping to rebound against a Gonzaga team they had defeated in all 17 previous meetings.

But the Bulldogs, West Coast Conference champions a year ago, broke away midway through the first half, building a 20-18 lead into a 55-33 lead by halftime.

The Huskies never got closer than 17 in the second half, but outscored the Zags by three.

"We came out and won the second half, if nothing else," Jackson said. "That's what we wanted to do. We wanted to get a victory out of this defeat and that's what we did.

"We want to come to the game like we started the second half and unfortunately we didn't come out with that type of energy to start the game. But, you know what, we have a few more ahead of us and we're ready to take on the next challenge."

Michelle Augustavo, a former Bishop Blanchet player and University of San Diego transfer, scored 11 for the Huskies, including three three-pointers.

Gonzaga's Heather Bowman scored 21, one of four Zags in double figures. Janelle Bekkering had 20, Jami Bjorklund 17 and Michelle Elliott 13. Bjorklund had a game-high 10 rebounds. Freshman reserve Courtney Vandersloot from Kentwood High had 10 assists.

WASHINGTON (0-2)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
McNeill	28	3-8	3-4	1-4	0	1	9
McCormack	20	3-5	0-1	2-4	0	4	6
Florence	34	3-8	2-2	0-3	1	1	8
Whitcomb	30	6-10	2-2	3-4	5	1	16
Redmon	21	3-9	0-0	1-3	1	3	6
Bennett	13	2-6	2-2	2-4	1	2	6
Morton	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Augustavo	19	4-9	0-0	0-1	3	0	11
Argens	15	2-3	1-2	2-6	0	2	5
Mosiman	18	2-6	1-2	1-8	2	1	5
	200	28-64	11-15	13-40	13	15	72

Percentages: FG .438, FT .733. Three-point goals: 5-15, (McNeill 0-1, Florence 0-1, Whitcomb 2-3, Redmon 0-2, Bennett 0-1, Augustavo 3-7). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 4, (Whitcomb, Bennett 2, Mosiman). Turnovers: 21, (McCormack 2, Florence 4, Whitcomb 4, Redmon 5, Bennett, Morton, Mosiman 3). Steals: 9, (McCormack, Florence 2, Whitcomb 3, Redmon 2, Argens).

GONZAGA (1-0)
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Bekkering	26	6-12	7-9	0-3	2	4	20
Bowman	23	9-13	3-3	3-6	1	3	21
Kane	25	0-3	0-0	0-2	2	2	0
Elliott	26	4-9	3-4	2-6	2	0	13
Bjorklund	29	8-14	1-2	6-10	2	2	17
Lorenzo	2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Hassett	16	1-4	1-2	2-5	1	4	3
Brown	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Vandersloot	26	3-11	0-0	2-4	10	2	6
Shives	19	4-9	0-0	1-1	2	0	9
Raap	6	1-1	0-0	0-1	0	0	2
	200	36-77	15-20	17-41	22	17	91

Percentages: FG .468, FT .750. Three-point goals: 4-17, (Bekkering 1-2, Kane 0-3, Elliott 2-5, Bjorklund 0-1, Vandersloot 0-2, Shives 1-4). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 14, (Bowman 3, Kane 2, Elliott 2, Bjorklund 5, Hassett, Shives). Steals: 11, (Bowman 2, Kane, Elliott 3, Bjorklund, Brown, Shives 2, Raap).

Washington	33	39	—	72
Gonzaga	55	36	—	91

Attendance: 2,352. Officials: Wanda Szeremeta, Karen Lasuik, Darren Krzesnik. Technical fouls: None.