University of Washington
California
Morton, Kingma Power Huskies To 60-49 Victory At Cal
February 10, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2011
BERKELEY, Calif. - In the week leading up to the Cal game, coming off a disappointing loss to Oregon State, the Huskies talked about playing with anger. And then the Dawgs rebounded with perhaps their best effort all season.
In picking up a 60-49 win at Haas Pavilion, the Huskies (10-11, 5-7) not only erased the malaise of their game against the Beavers but also took home a victory from a building that has been a house of horrors for them recently. The win at Cal was the first for the Huskies since 2007. Even better, the Dawgs picked up their first sweep of the Golden Bears since the 2004-05.
Facing the pressure of what many had tagged as a must-win game, the Huskies received a big-time performance from a senior leader. Sarah Morton led UW with 18 points and eight assists, orchestrating a Huskies' offense that shot a season-high 51 percent from the field. She teamed up with Kristi Kingma, who scored 16 points, to form a tandem that gave Cal (14-9, 6-6) fits all evening.
"My teammates really helped me out there," Morton said. "They kept saying to me, `go to the hole.' So if I thought I could take someone off the dribble, I did so."
The penetration set up a myriad of open shots for the Huskies, including the first 3-pointer of Mollie Williams' career.
Layshia Clarendon led the Bears with 13 points, while DeNesha Stallworth added 12. Cal held only one lead in the game, a 2-0 advantage on a jumper by Clarendon. Otherwise, it was a Husky-dominated performance indicative of a veteran team that knows how to brush aside a frustrating loss.
Washington arrived to the Bay Area locked in and focused, knowing the task at hand. The sting from the home loss to the Beavers stuck in team's craw all week, driving them through a series of intense practices in Seattle. By the time the team took the floor at Haas, they had 40 minutes to take out their aggression on the Golden Bears.
This was evident from the start.
"Our players are excited about the effort out there," said Huskies coach Tia Jackson, who picked up her first career win at Cal. "We talked before the game that the offensive effort matched the defensive intensity."
The Huskies opened the game with a 21-4 run, making 10 of their first 12 shots in the process. Morton led the charge, hitting five of her first six shots. Cal responded - as home teams generally do - with a 13-5 burst to crawl within seven. The key to the first-half run was a Huskies' defense that made Cal look discombobulated. Showcasing the gritty man-to-man defense that has become a program trademark, Washington clogged the post and forced the Cal into long-range shots.
But what helped the Huskies the most was a 33-32 edge on the boards against the No. 2 rebounding team in the Pac-10. Williams led the team with eight rebounds, but it was a time-wide effort that allowed the Huskies the edge in that category. In the second-half, the Dawgs extended their lead to 18 points as Morton and Kingma continued to work. But Cal mounted a serious run in the game's final six minutes, cutting the lead to five with a little under two minutes to go.
Washington responded with its play of the game - a Morton 3-pointer with one second left on the shot clock. The shot deflated the Haas Pavilion crowd, and sent the sizable contingent of purple-and-gold fans into an uproar.
Now the Huskies turn around and face the toughest challenge in the Pac-10, a trip to No. 3 Stanford. The Dawgs and Cardinal tip from Maples Pavilion at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon. GoHuskies.com will again hold a live chat during the game.
