Women's Basketball | Host Huskies sink in second half to lose tournament's title game

First, the Washington women's basketball team lost its leading scorer to injury. Later, UW simply lost its shooting touch.

The Huskies lost Sunday's championship game in the annual Husky Classic to Clemson 85-67 in front of 2,197 at Edmundson Pavilion.

In Friday's 26-point win over Seattle University, Washington lost two interior players, 6-foot-3 starter Heidi McNeill and 6-3 reserve Mackenzie Argens, to injury.

Four minutes into Sunday's game, 6-2 starting center Laura McLellan (averaging a team-best 14.5 points per game) crumpled to the floor with an ankle injury that left her shrieking in pain.

"We talked about Friday's game being the battle of Seattle," said Washington coach Tia Jackson, who said on two occasions she had guards filling UW's post position. "This one was definitely the battle of wills."

Although McLellan returned momentarily late in the first half, the Huskies (2-3) played competitively without her against a similarly sized lineup from Clemson (5-2). Washington led 35-34 at halftime. None of the Tigers who logged time Sunday stand taller than 6-2; six are sub-6-footers, including 5-10 tournament MVP Lele Hardy (22 points, nine rebounds).

What ultimately undid the Huskies was a 17-2 run by Clemson that started near the midpoint of the second half with UW ahead 52-50.

During the next four minutes the Tigers sank eight of 10 shots, all inside the paint except for a three-pointer by Kirstyn Wright. Washington, meanwhile, missed six shots it attempted during that span while also committing two turnovers.

Michelle Augustavo, who sank three of nine three-point attempts, missed all five she tried in the second half. Freshman guard Kristi Kingma shot 2 for 11 from the field, sophomore point guard Sarah Morton went 0 for 8. The Huskies shot 30.8 percent (12 for 39) in the second half, when they were outscored 51-32.

Junior guard Sami Whitcomb led the Huskies with 18 points, but was 1 for 7 on three-pointers. (UW was 5 for 20 outside the arc.) She and Augustavo both had three-point attempts result in in-and-out rim-spinners.

"I think they made the baskets smaller this game than the last game," Jackson said. "We got good looks. I would take Michelle's shots all over again knowing she could nail them. I would take Morty's [Morton's] 12- to 15-footers all over again. She makes them every day in practice. Today just wasn't our day."

Augustavo, who canned five of seven three-point attempts against Seattle U., understands she has feast or famine stretches in her role as UW's chief deep threat.

"They felt great coming off and they just didn't go in," said Augustavo, who scored 42 points in a 2005 game against Clemson while playing for the University of San Diego before she transferred to UW. "Like Coach said, she would take them all over again. I've just got to keep shooting."

McLellan's left-ankle injury was described as a sprain. She is uncertain for Wednesday's game at Pepperdine.

Seattle U. falls in OT

Seattle University lost an 18-point lead in the second half to fall 89-77 in overtime to Kent State in the third-place game of the Husky Classic.

Breanna Salley led the Redhawks (1-3) with 17 points.

Seattle U. led 54-36 with 16:34 left in regulation, then Kent State started chipping away at the lead. Kent State finished the half by outscoring the Redhawks 10-4, the last two on a layup by Stephanie Gibson with 37 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

Kent State (4-1) sealed the victory with Chenel Harris' three-pointer with 1:19 remaining. Seattle U. missed all six of its field-goal attempts in the extra session.

Sports-information reports contributed to this story.

CLEMSON 85
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Tate	20	4-7	0-0	0-2	0	1	8
Hood	34	8-12	0-0	1-9	2	1	16
Smith	18	2-5	2-2	0-2	6	1	8
Brown	30	0-3	2-3	0-5	3	2	2
Hardy	32	7-9	5-5	0-9	3	3	22
Wright	24	5-10	2-2	2-4	4	2	13
Taylor	17	2-4	2-2	0-1	6	0	6
Parker	9	0-1	1-2	0-1	0	1	1
Thomas	16	3-6	2-3	0-3	1	3	9
	200	31-57	16-19	5-38	25	14	85

Percentages: FG .544, FT .842. Three-point goals: 7-16, (Smith 2-4, Brown 0-1, Hardy 3-5, Wright 1-4, Thomas 1-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 4, (Tate, Hood 2, Hardy). Turnovers: 15, (Tate, Brown 2, Hardy 2, Taylor 5, Parker 2, Thomas 3). Steals: 7, (Tate, Hood, Brown, Hardy 2, Taylor, Thomas).

WASHINGTON 67
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Whitcomb	35	7-16	3-4	0-5	2	5	18
Williams	35	5-11	2-2	4-8	2	1	12
McLellan	7	1-1	0-0	0-2	1	1	2
Kingma	28	2-11	5-7	4-4	2	3	10
Morton	32	0-8	0-0	0-0	2	2	0
Augustavo	23	6-16	0-0	4-5	1	1	15
Rozier	6	1-2	0-0	0-2	3	1	2
Barlow	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Young	26	2-6	2-2	1-6	0	3	6
Mosiman	5	1-1	0-0	0-1	0	2	2
	200	25-72	12-15	15-37	13	19	67

Percentages: FG .347, FT .800. Three-point goals: 5-20, (Whitcomb 1-7, Kingma 1-3, Morton 0-1, Augustavo 3-9). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 3, (Williams 3). Turnovers: 11, (Whitcomb, McLellan, Kingma 2, Morton, Augustavo, Rozier, Young 2, Mosiman). Steals: 7, (Whitcomb, Williams 2, Kingma, Augustavo, Young 2).

Clemson	34	51	—	85
Washington	35	32	—	67

Attendance: 2,197. Officials: Michael Price, Michelle Russi, Alejandro Moreno. Technical fouls: Clemson-None. Washington-None.