Huskies top UI women
SEATTLE – The new leaders of Washington basketball are young. And, in the case of its new coach in her first home game, almost stately.
Freshmen Katelan Redmon and Kali Bennett each scored 18 points as Washington celebrated the campus debut of new coach Tia Jackson with an easy 73-57 victory over Idaho on Friday in the opening round of the Husky Classic – so easy it barely had Jackson out of her seat.
Sami Whitcomb added 16 points and Bennett had 11 rebounds for Washington (2-4), which will play Arkansas State (4-1) in Sunday’s championship game.
The Lady Indians beat Weber State 57-44 in Friday’s first game for their fourth consecutive win.
“A good warm-up,” Bennett said of Washington’s runaway from Idaho, which is even younger than Washington. The Vandals started three freshmen and a sophomore Friday.
Yinka Olorunnife and Katie Schlotthauer each had 12 points for Idaho, (0-4), which plays Weber State (1-3) in Sunday’s consolation game.
“Not to take anything away from them at all, but we are so young right now that we don’t trust each other, trust our system,” Idaho’s seventh-year coach Mike Divilbiss said.
Washington’s kids, Redmon and Bennett, are part of a heralded recruiting class signed by June Daugherty before Washington fired its coach after 11 years and replaced her with Jackson, a former Duke assistant. UW athletic director Todd Turner said he wanted more “buzz” in the program.
On Friday, Redmon, the Lewis and Clark graduate, provided some of the only buzz in an otherwise ho-hum game.
She scored 10 of the Huskies’ 14 points during a 5 1/2 -minute span that propelled the Huskies to a 34-17 lead late in the first half. Redmon scored inside and out during her spurt, on a spinning layup, a 3-pointer deep and a 3-point play inside. Idaho never recovered.
With 4:25 left in the game, after a Huskies’ steal, Redmon made her third 3-pointer in three tries to put Washington ahead 67-47.
She punctuated that by jumping up and down in place as if on a pogo stick and thrusting her right hand toward the arena’s roof.
That was one of the few times Jackson left her seat. The rookie coach seemed almost senatorial on the bench, often speaking instructions to players while seated. Daugherty, who almost never sat down during games, is now trying to rebuild Washington State.
“It depends on the game,” Jackson said when asked about her sideline demeanor. “The players in the airport coming back (from a preseason tournament in Hawaii) told me I was a yeller and a screamer. Then I come home and I’m told I’m reserved.”
Whitcomb said “reserved” doesn’t describe Jackson.
“She’s more a motivator than a yeller or screamer,” said Whitcomb, a sophomore from Ventura, Calif.
“She has a fierce personality and it’s contagious. … When she gets pumped up, it gets people going.”
Jackson had bemoaned a lack of defense, too many turnovers and foul trouble as Washington lost four of the first five games of her tenure. The skid included the Huskies’ first three-game losing streak in non-conference play since the 2004-05 season, which was UW’s last losing one.
The defense came and went Friday, keeping Jackson upset through parts of the game. The Huskies’ 11 turnovers belied their 42-23 lead at halftime. Plus, Whitcomb and forward Laura McLellan each had four fouls through much of the second half.
Washington may be missing senior Andrea Plouffe, an inside force, for a few more weeks because of an injury to her Achilles tendon. Prized freshman Jess McCormack, who was leading Washington in rebounding through five games, missed Friday’s game with a high ankle sprain sustained in practice Tuesday. That was the day freshman Mackenzie Argens “tweaked” her ankle, Jackson said.