It was a historic night at Matthew Knight Arena, but it wasn’t for the home team. Washington was unconscious from the three-point line all night as they finished with 18 three-pointers (team record) and it led to their eventual blowout victory over the Ducks. The Ducks have now dropped six-straight conference games to drop even deeper in the Pac-12 standings and there are no signs pointing to a turnaround at this point in the season.
The first half was a story of outside shooting and the Ducks suffered mightily from it. Despite Liz Brenner making an early mark in the paint with seven of the first 10 points for the Ducks, Washington’s proficiency from the three-point line was simply too much. Washington would end the half on a 17-8 run with Kristi Kingma hitting two of her five three-pointers which brought the score to 47-30 at the half.
In the first six minutes of the second half, Washington’s Kingma nailed three three-pointers — one coming from NBA range — as she single-handedly took over the game in the second half. Kingma would finish the game with 35 points on 12-19 shooting with 11 of her field goals coming from beyond the arc. Kingma was one three-pointer shy of the all-time NCAA record of 12, but she did manage to set the all-time conference record for most three-pointers made as she led her team to their 10th win in Pac-12 play.
Leading the way for the Ducks tonight was Jillian Alleyne who finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. With Alleyne starting slow, Liz Brenner picked up the leading role in the paint and she did so by finishing with a team high 10 points and six rebounds in the first half. Brenner began the game with seven of the Ducks first 10 points, but she didn’t manage to score a basket for the rest of the game. She did finish the game with 10 points and eight rebounds.
“I’ve been proud of this team the whole way,” said head coach Paul Westhead after the loss. “It really tests a team’s tenacity when they have makeable plays and they aren’t converting, so it doubles how competitive you have to be,” said Westhead. “The woe in many ways was generated on the offensive end and we were not up for the task.”
“We need to get out of our heads and get out of ourselves and that is what a team sports is about,” said a frustrated Alleyne. Because it’s hard for us to do that and we don’t do it, we’re not on the same accord and that’s showing in the game, it’s imminent, anyone can point it out,” said Alleyne.
“We need to work on it and in these last six games let’s come out hard; let’s get on the same page for once and let’s work towards ending the season right and then moving on,” Alleyne said to her teammates. “That’s hard for us; moving on,” said Alleyne. “We wonder in the past.”
Turning point: After knocking five three-pointers in the first half, Kingma came out in the second half not having lost a beat. Kingma sparked a 7-0 run around the 14 minuet mark and it extended the Huskies’ lead to 25 points. This completely threw the Ducks out of the game and only added to Kingma’s historical night on the three-point line.
On the horizon: The Ducks will take a day off before facing off against a Washington State team that handed them one of their two conference wins of the year. Tip off is scheduled for 4 p.m. For all news and recaps, check back here at the Emerald.