UW Women's Hoops | Washington women dominate Eastern Washington with defense

Tia Jackson says the defining characteristic of her Washington women's basketball team is aggressive defense, and turnovers were an obvious contributing factor in UW's 64-46 win over Eastern Washington Friday in the first round of the Husky Classic.

Eastern was on a turnover-a-minute pace through the game's first 10 minutes, had 16 by halftime and finished with 23 in front of 2,091 at Edmundson Pavilion.

Jackson, the third-year coach, was asked how much of that turnover total she would attribute to Washington's defense.

Senior guard Sami Whitcomb jumped in with the answer the way she would cut off an opponent's pass: "All of it," she said. "Absolutely."

Jackson quickly concurred. "That's who we are," she said.

Rebounding from a 29-point loss at Gongaza on Monday, the Huskies (2-2) used hustling defense to harass Eastern (3-2) into an afternoon of cold shooting and wayward passes.

"It was real important for us to kind of reclaim ourselves and make sure that we're establishing what our signature is," Jackson said of UW's aggressive defense.

Washington never trailed in the game and had a 22-11 lead 15 minutes into the first half. The lead grew to 44-26 eight minutes into the second half when the Eagles had almost as many turnovers (22) as points. Washington's biggest lead was 23 with four minutes left to play.

Eastern's only advantage was in rebounding, 45-36.

Regina Rogers, playing with a bandaged right hand after dislocating a knuckle on her index finger in practice last week, led the Huskies in scoring (12 points, on 5-of-12 shooting) and rebounds (six) in 18 minutes.

Note

• The Husky Classic continues Sunday, with the Huskies taking on Sacramento State (0-3) at 2 p.m. At noon, Eastern will face Memphis (3-2), a 98-83 winner over Sacramento State in Friday's early contest.

In that game, Memphis sophomore guard Brittany Carter scored 49 points, setting a Tigers women's basketball record and the mark for most points scored by a woman at Edmundson Pavilion. The previous record was 43 by former Husky Giuliana Mendiola in 2003. Former Washington player Megan Franza held the previous high for points scored in a Husky Classic game — 35 in 1999.

Washington 64,

Eastern Washington 46

EASTERN WASHINGTON (3-2) — Piper 3-10 2-3 8, Scott 0-4 2-4 2, Evans 2-11 2-2 7, Ryan 3-10 3-4 9, Huntington 2-7 0-0 4, Nolen 1-4 0-0 2, Cooper 2-8 1-3 5, Schoening 0-4 0-0 0, Sparavalo 3-7 0-0 8, Ojeda 0-1 1-2 1, Russell 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-68 11-18 46.

WASHINGTON (2-2) — Argens 2-6 0-0 4, Rogers 5-12 2-4 12, Morton 1-3 0-0 2, Whitcomb 2-6 4-4 10, Mosiman 4-7 0-0 8, McLellan 2-3 5-6 9, Kingma 2-4 0-2 4, Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Rozier 1-2 2-2 4, Barlow 0-0 1-2 1, Williams 5-8 0-0 10. Totals 24-51 14-20 64.

Halftime — UW 30-17. Three-point goals — EWU 3-19 (Scott 0-1, Evans 1-6, Ryan 0-2, Huntington 0-2, Cooper 0-2, Schoening 0-2, Sparavalo 2-4), UW 2-3 (Whitcomb 2-2, Kingma 0-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — EWU 45 (Scott, Ryan 7), UW 36 (Rogers 6). Assists — EWU 5 (Huntington 3), UW 18 (Whitcomb, Mosiman 5). Total fouls — EWU 16, UW 17. A — 2,091.