University of Washington
California
Scoring Droughts Late End Morton's UW Career, Huskies' Season in 58-48 Loss to Cal
March 09, 2011 | Women's Basketball
March 9, 2011
By Gregg Bell
UW Director of Writing
LOS ANGELES - As the final buzzer sounded on her college career, Sarah Morton huddled on the court with her Huskies teammates for the last time. Then she picked her head up, looked straight ahead without an expression and jogged off with her team.
Even though UW's scrappy season and Morton's resilient career are over, their heads stayed high - all the way out to the team bus, into the Southern California night and into the long offseason.
"I love these girls. I love these coaches," Morton said of the second coaching staff in her challenging UW career, which included five of her recruiting classmates leave the program.
Unfortunately, Wednesday night wasn't why the point guard from Monroe, Wash., stayed.
Leading scorer Kristi Kingma made just three of 11 shots. The Huskies went almost nine minutes without a field goal in the game's decisive stretch. And they got out-rebounded at key times. That resulted in sixth-seeded California ending seventh-seeded Washington's season with a 58-48 victory in the first round of the Pac-10 women's basketball tournament at USC's Galen Center.
"Definitely not the way we wanted to send `Morty' out -- especially after the two good performances we had to finish the regular season, when we got out inside-out game going really well," coach Tia Jackson said on her way back to the Huskies' quiet locker room.
"VERY disappointing."
Mackenzie Argens scored 10 points before fouling out, Kingma managed 10 with seven rebounds and Morton, the lone senior, six points and four assists for Washington (11-17) which finished 6-12 in the conference's regular season. The Huskies had beaten the Bears (15-15) in both of their regular-season meetings, by nine in Seattle in January and by 11 in Berkeley last month.
Morton's final season was her best one. The first four-year player for Jackson averaged almost nine points per game, scored a career-high 20 at Utah in her season debut and led the Pac-10 with five assists per game in conference play.
None of that seemed to matter to her late Wednesday.
"We definitely weren't the aggressors from the get-go," Morton said pointedly. "I don't think we deserved that win. We didn't do the things we set out to do."
The lack of aggression - especially on the boards - continued a maddening season trend in which the Huskies' performance didn't always match their talent or preparation. Asked about that, Jackson opened her eyes wide and said, "It's a mystery."
How they lost this one wasn't.
The Huskies were outrebounded 23-11 on the offensive boards and 47-37 overall. They allowed two opposing players - Cal's Talia Caldwell and the 5-9 Clarendon - to get double-digit rebounds in a game against them for the first time this season.
At one point, frustrated Jackson screamed from the bench to her players over the minimal noise of the small crowd: "BOX THEM OUT!"
Washington dropped to 4-10 all-time in the Pac-10 tournament. They have won one Pac-10 tournament game in four seasons under Jackson. UW's women still have never advanced past the second round of the conference tournament.
Asked how she was doing personally following the disappointing end to the season, Jackson smiled warmly and said, "I'm breathing."
Kingma, the Pac-10's second-leading scorer and all-conference pick, went cold and became a decoy as the Huskies got their inside game heated up instead late in the first half and early in the second. The Dawgs went outside-in to break a halftime tie and forge their largest lead, 39-33. Argens made five of her first seven shots and Regina Rogers was three of four for eight points at that point.
With multiple Bears - primarily 5-foot-9 Layshia Clarendon - hounding the 5-10 Kingma through a maze of UW screens in the frontcourt, Kingma missed seven of her first nine shots and went 23:33 between baskets. That drought finally ended when she scored over a double team outside to stop Cal's 8-0 run and get UW within 41-40 with 8:47 remaining.
"We went into decoy-mode with Kristi," Jackson said. "She made her first 3 (on her first shot of the game) - and then they said, `No more.'"
Cal scored the next five points after Kingma's drought-breaking score to go up 46-40 with 8 minutes to go. The Huskies then curiously went three consecutive offensive trips without even looking to Kingma. At that point, she wasn't even a decoy - just a crippling non-factor.
"It's a lot easier guarding her when she doesn't have the ball," Clarendon said of Kingma.
Argens fouled out with 4:19 left. Cal's Caldwell missed both ensuing free throws, but 5-7 guard Eliza Pierre got one of the many offensive rebounds for the Bears. Cal converted that into a free throw by Rama N'diaye and a 52-44 lead with 3:56 left.
Kingma then got double teamed in the corner and threw a pass at Rogers' feet in the high post for UW's 17th turnover.
Cal made a free throw to go up 53-44 and got yet another offensive rebound with 3 minutes left. Clarendon scored from outside to put the Huskies in an 11-point hole with 2:30 left. That proved insurmountable when Kingma suffered her second turnover in two trips.
UW went 5 minutes without scoring, and 8:52 without a field goal in the decisive stretch, before Kingma finally scored on a layup with 1:27 left to get the Huskies to within 56-46.
"We kind of over-thought some plays," said Kingma, whose 10 points were six below her season average. "There were some times when ... Cal would be in the passing lanes and we kind of panicked."
With Kingma a decoy, UW got it inside early and often, finding Argens continually open in the post. Argens used a soft touch in the lane over leaping defenders to make three of her first four shots to offset the Huskies' rebounding woes early.
Cal made just 11 of 39 shots (28 percent) in the first half and turned the ball over seven times against UW's in-your-shirt, man-to-man defense - the team's hallmark that has kept them in games all season. The main reason Washington was tied at 25 instead of ahead at the break was because Cal outrebounded the Huskies 27-20, including 16-6 on the offensive boards. Clarendon crashed down from the perimeter to grab six rebounds in the half.
The rebounding edge was especially mystifying given the Dawgs out-rebounded Cal in both previous meetings this season.
Freshman Mercedes Wetmore scored four points on 1-of-9 shooting while starting for injured Charmaine Barlow. That created co-point guards with Morton for UW, with Kingma roaming for looks she never could find out on the wings.
Barlow was in street clothes watching from the bench after she sprained her ankle in Sunday's regular-season finale.
