Huskies Battle Rival Washington State Friday in Boeing Apple Cup Series Game

Friday, February 15

Pullman, WA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

Washington State

Huskies Battle Rival Washington State Friday in Boeing Apple Cup Series Game

February 13, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF)Boeing Apple Cup Series

Opening Tip
• Washington opens its final road trip of the season, traveling to face arch-rival Washington State in Pullman on Friday at 7:00 p.m. It will be the second game of the Boeing Apple Cup Series with WSU taking the first game 79-76 in Seattle.

• The game is being broadcast on the Pac-12 Network with Greg Heister and Joan Bonvicini on the call. Fans can also listen to the game on the UW broadcast with Gary Hill Jr. on KKNW 1150 AM, on the TuneIn App on GoHuskies.com.

• Amber Melgoza has scored 27 points over her last two games including 24 points against Arizona on Thursday. In that game, she became just the ninth player in program history to record 1,000 total points over two consecutive seasons, scoring 1,006 over her last two years.

• Darcy Rees has tallied 43 points over her last three games, averaging 14.3 ppg over that stretch. She scored 15 points and added eight rebounds when the Huskies played Washington State in Seattle earlier this year.

Scouting the Cougars
Washington State snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 90-88 victory over Arizona on Saturday afternoon. The win moves the Cougars to 8-16 on the season and to 3-10 in Pac-12 play. The victory may have secured WSU would finish no worse than 10th in the conference.

Junior Borislava Hristova–or "Bobby Buckets" as she is known around the conference–continues to pace the WSU offense with a 21.0 ppg average, shooting 47.8% from the field and adding 6.0 rebounds per game.

Fellow junior Chanelle Molina is adding 16.3 ppg and is among the Pac-12 leaders with 5.25 assists per contest. Molina is shooting 42.4% from three-point range and 47.5% from the field overall.

All-Time Series vs Washington State
This will be the 88th meeting between the teams all-time with Washington holding a 72-15 overall record over Washington State. The Huskies actually hold a better record in games played in Pullman, going 35-6 at Beasley Coliseum including winning three of the last four. While UW has won six of the last eight games overall, the Huskies are just 6-5 against the Cougars dating back to 2014. Prior to 2014, the Huskies had won 36-straight games dating back to 1996.

Earlier this season, the cougars won in Seattle for just the ninth time overall, narrowly edging Washington 79-76. The Huskies trailed by as many as 16 in the first half, but rallied to pull within one in the final minute. Washington had a chance to tie the game late, but a three-point attempt missed the mark. Amber Melgoza led the Huskies with 27 points while Jenna Moser and Darcy Rees each added 15.

Up Next
Washington plays its final road series of the regular season, heading to the mountains to battle Utah on Friday, Feb. 22 before taking on Colorado on Sunday, Feb. 24. The Huskies wrap up the regular season at home, hosting California and Stanford on March 1 and 3 at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Last Time Out
Washington's game against Arizona State was cancelled due to a record-breaking snow storm which hit Seattle last week. The game will not be made up.

Against Arizona on Thursday: Amber Melgoza had 24 points and Darcy Rees added 13 points but Washington was unable to knock off Arizona in a game much closer than the final score indicated, falling 69-59.

In a game which saw eight ties and 14 lead changes, neither team held a lead of more than five points until the Wildcats converted free throws in the final two minutes of the game to put it out of reach.
Washington held a three-point lead early in the fourth quarter and the teams went back and forth with Arizona holding a two-point lead after a Melgoza bucket at the 2:17 mark. But Arizona would answer with a basket, then after a defensive stop, hit a pair of free throws to make it a 61-55 game with 1:43 left and pulled away late.

Melgoza recorded her second-straight 20+ point game, 13th of the season and seventh in 12 Pac-12 games this season. She connected on 3-of-6 from three-point range, adding four rebounds as well. Rees reached double-figures for the fourth time in the last five games after doing so just three times in the previous 19. She is averaging 12.4 points per game over her last five.

Melgoza Reaches 1,000
Junior Amber Melgoza became the 28th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points with her first basket against Oregon on Jan. 27. The junior has averaged 13.4 points per game through her first three seasons–the 14th-highest per game average of any of the Huskies' 1,000-point scorers.

Against Arizona, Melgoza became just the ninth player in program history to score 1,000 combined points over a two-year span, amassing 1,006 over the last two seasons for an 18.6 ppg average. (Melgoza didn't play much as a freshman, scoring just 53 total points in 25 games.) If she keeps up her current pace, Melgoza should end up in the UW Top 10 by the end of her career.

Amber Alert
Melgoza continues to pace the Huskies, averaging 18.2 points per game this season–seventh-best in the Pac-12. She has been red-hot lately, scoring 47 points over her last two games. Once again, she has picked up her play in conference action, scoring 20+ points in seven Pac-12 games, averaging 17.8 ppg. Overall, Melgoza has scored 20+ points in 13 games this season and 27 times in her career. She led the Pac-12 in scoring in conference games last season, averaging 20.6 ppg.

Melgoza also leads the team in assists (2.8/game), rebounds (4.5/game) and is second in steals (1.3/game). If she leads the team in all four categories, she would become the second player in program history to lead the team in all four categories (Giuliana Mendiola 2x, 2002-03, 2003-04).

That Halftime Lead...
The score at halftime has gone a long way to determine the score at the end of the game for the Huskies. This season, the Huskies are 8-0 when leading at halftime, but are 0-16 when trailing or tied at the break. Over the last two seasons, Washington is 15-4 when leading at the half but is 0-35 when tied or trailing at halftime.

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!! Oi! Oi! Oi!!
Darcy Rees has scored 43 points in her last three games (14.3 ppg) including a career-high 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting at USC on Feb. 1. She has reached double-figures in three-straight games and of her last five after doing so just three times in the previous 19. She had her biggest game of the season to that point against Washington State on Dec. 30, scoring 15 points and adding eight rebounds at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The freshman from Adelaide, Australia, is averaging 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds on the season, but has picked it up in Pac-12 play. Through 12 conference games, Rees is averaging 9.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, shooting 45.9% from the field. She has also started the last 11 games for the Huskies and 17 total on the season.

Moser Returns to Palouse For Final Time
Senior Jenna Moser is making her final trip to Pullman on Sunday, playing just 20 minutes north of the small town of Colton where she grew up. Moser was a four-time Class 1B State Champion at Colton High School and a two-time Class 1B Player of the Year while playing in the town of 500. The senior is expecting a large contingent of family and friends from Colton to make the trip north to Pullman to see Moser in her final collegiate game in the Palouse. Moser, who started her UW career as a practice player, only player to start all 30 games last season and has started all 24 this year. She is averaging 5.5 ppg and leads the team with 35 steals.

Freshmen Power
Washington's freshmen trio of Haley Van Dyke, T.T. Watkins and Darcy Rees has seen quite a bit of action this season with the trio averaging 17.6 minutes/game so far with Rees and Watkins combining for 18 starts. The three freshmen put together their best collective game so far this year in the Huskies' win over Colorado on Jan 11, combining for 27 points. Watkins led the group with 10 points–just the second time she has scored in double-figures this season–while Van Dyke added nine points and Rees scored eight.

The Masked Duo
Washington will have a pair of players wearing face masks for the rest of the season after suffering broken noses. Missy Peterson has suffered a pair of knocks to the nose throughout the early part of the season and has been wearing a mask since December. Alexis Griggsby suffered a break after an inadvertent elbow late against Oregon State.

Montana State of Mind
Sophomore guard Montana Hagstrom made the most of extra playing time over a two-game stretch against Oregon and at USC, averaging 6.0 ppg and playing 13.5 minutes per game after seeing action in 23 minutes of seven games to this point.

Hagstrom, who walked-on with the team after playing one season at Bellevue College, missed last year due to injury. She played limited minutes in mop-up roles earlier this season until a pair of injuries to teammates against Oregon gave her more time. She responded with a three-pointer to give the Huskies a lead over No. 5 Oregon in the first half and finished with six points. The early triple was her first basket of UW career. She followed that up with six points at USC on Friday on a pair of three-pointers, adding two assists.

Productive Peterson
After an injury-plagued freshman campaign, Missy Peterson has been solid during her sophomore season, averaging 9.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. She averaged 14.6 ppg (73 total points) over a five-game stretch beginning with a 17-point performance against Duke at the Gulf Coast Showcase and has scored at least 17 points in four games this season. Those 73 points were more than she had all of last year (59).

Peterson struggled with injuries her freshman year as a lingering foot injury kept her off the court until just before the start of the season. After playing sparingly through 18 games last year, Peterson suffering a season-ending knee injury at Washington State on Jan. 17. After rehabbing during the off-season, she returned strong, but has been dealing with a nose injury through much of this season, wearing a custom mask to protect it. In addition, Peterson suffered a concussion after getting hit around the eye in early in the game against Arizona.

Strength of Schedule
Once again, the Huskies are not shying away from playing a difficult schedule in 2018-19. UW plays nearly over one-third of its schedule (12 games) against eight teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25 or receiving votes. The Huskies have the 16th-toughest schedule among the 351 NCAA DI programs when looking at the cumulative record of its opposition this year (420-236, .640).

The Pac-12 conference boasts four teams in the AP Top 25 including three in the Top 15: #3 Oregon, #9 Oregon State, #10 Stanford, and #19 Arizona State with Utah and UCLA receiving votes.

Huskies in the Rankings
UW ranks among the Pac-12 leaders in a number of categories: third in total steals (205) and steals per game (8.5), third in turnovers forced (16.67/game), fifth in free throw percentage (72.3%), second in three-pointers attempted (581) and sixth in three-pointers made (170) and three-pointers/game (7.1).

Individually, Amber Melgoza ranks among the NCAA leaders in seven categories: 20th in field goals attempted (384), 37th in total points (436), 42nd in field goals made (155), 46th in free throws made (98), 69th in free throw attempts (120), 59th in points per game (18.2) and 88th in free throw percentage (81.7%).

Radio Show
Washington Head Coach Jody Wynn joins Elise Woodward for the UW Coaches Show throughout the season at Chinook's at Fisherman's Terminal. The show is carried live on KOMO AM 1000 in Seattle at 6:00 p.m. on the following dates: Feb. 18, Feb. 25, March 4, March 11 and March 18. The show can be heard online at GoHuskies.com or on the TuneIn App.

Husky Pen Pals
Washington has adopted a class of fourth graders at Terrace Elementary School in Riverside, Calif. The Huskies have been sending letters back and forth with the 30 kids in Ms. Ditta's class and had a chance to meet their pen pals while on their trip to LA in early February. More information on the program can be found on the UW Athletics website at https://uwathletics.exposure.co/winwin.

Wynn Adds Talented Trio on Signing Day
UW coach Jody Wynn announced the signing of a talented trio to National Letters of Intent during the November early signing period: JaQuaya Miller (Renton, WA/Kentridge HS), Ali Bamberger (Concord, CA/Carondelet HS), and Nia Lowery (Sacramento, CA/McClatchy HS).

Miller is a local product and one of the top post recruits in the country. The 6-3 post from Renton is a 4.5-star rated recruit by Prospects Nation, ranked No. 41 overall (sixth-best post in the country) and the top overall prospect out of Washington state.

Bamberger, a 6-3 post, is ranked as the No. 8 player out of California (No. 2 post player) and No. 81 overall in the Class of 2019 by Prospects Nation heading into her final season at Carondelet High School in Concord, Calif.

Lowery, a 5-11 wing from Sacramento, is rated as a four-star recruit by Prospects Nation from McClatchy High School. As a senior, she helped guide the Lions to a NorCal Division I Title, an appearance in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship and a berth in the state tournament.