"It’s Crazy That 10 Years Have Gone By": Washington Women's Basketball Celebrates 2016 Final Four Run
February 03, 2026 | Women's Basketball
By MARK MOSCHETTI
For GoHuskies.com
SEATTLE – Ask anyone who has played in the Final Four, and she probably won't remember how many points she had. Or how many shots she made. Or even what the final score was in any of the games that helped her team reach the biggest part of The Big Dance.
But 10 years after the University of Washington women did exactly that, there is still one number that remains forever etched in the mind of Talia Walton.
And it's not points or shots or final scores.
We had that point-zero-zero-zero-one percent chance of making the Final Four, according to ESPN, Walton recalled. Apparently, all you need is .0001 and you can make amazing things happen.
It's crazy that 10 years have gone by.
But indeed they have. Walton was one of five players from the 2016 squad, along with head coach Mike Neighbors, back at Alaska Airlines Arena inside Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Sunday to celebrate and remember that milestone accomplishment.
When they sent the text to us about (the celebration), it kind of hits you in the gut a little bit – like, 'Are we that old?' Kelli Kingma said with a laugh. It feels like it was just yesterday.
Walton and Kingma were joined by Katie Collier, Deja Strother, and Mackenzie Wieburg for the halftime gathering during UW's Big Ten game against Illinois. Kelsey Plum, the most recognizable star of that team and now a WNBA standout with the Los Angeles Sparks, delivered a message on the video board high above the court.
QUIETLY CONFIDENT
The 2015-16 Huskies went 26-11 – the fourth team in program history to win at least that many games.
It is still the only team in program history to make it to the Final Four. At the start of the season, none of the Huskies were actually predicting anything like that.
But they weren't ruling anything out, either.
I feel like there was something about our team and just the belief that we had, said Kingma, a sophomore guard that year who saw regular action as a reserve. Starting with our best players and our coaches, we just believed all along that there was never a doubt we were going to be successful. But we didn't know what that would look like.
What it wound up looking like was an early-season five-game winning streak, a pair of four-game winning streaks, and a midseason weekend home court sweep of No. 17 UCLA and No. 25 Southern California.
It was just showing up and doing one thing at a time, said Walton, a redshirt senior forward who averaged 16.5 points and 6.4 rebounds in 36.9 minutes of action every night – and who played all 40 minutes in all five NCAA Tournament games. Whether it was that practice, that training session, that weight session, that game – it was always just one thing at a time. When you break up the process like that, it allows you to go further.
After finishing the regular season with a home court sweep of Utah and Colorado – the win against the Buffaloes was No. 20 — the Huskies headed into the Pac-12 Tournament as the No. 5 seed. And while they didn't have a home court advantage, they at least had a hometown advantage, as the tournament was being played inside KeyArena (now Climate Pledge Arena).
Washington beat Colorado, 67-51, then stunned 11th-ranked Stanford in the quarterfinals, 73-66. That set up a semifinal against No. 8-ranked Oregon State, but the Beavers pulled out that one, 57-55.
LET'S GO DANCIN'
Earning a No. 7 seed for the NCAA Tournament, the Huskies were sent across the country to Maryland for a first-round game against Penn. A huge fourth quarter helped UW pull out a 65-63 win.
The previous year, we also made it, but we lost to Miami in the first round, Walton recalled. Getting there again, the first game, we said, 'We've gotta win this first one.' Once we got that, we were like, 'This is it. This might be (the year).'
That set up a second-round date against No. 2 seed and national No. 5-ranked Maryland – also at UM. Plum poured in 32 points, Walton had 20, including a 3-point dagger with 1:25 left to extend the lead to eight points and the Huskies took it, 74-65.
That game still sticks out in the mind of Collier, a redshirt junior forward / center.
We were just so dialed in, right from the warm-ups, she said. I remember they (the Terps) were chilling during their warm-ups, sitting there just watching us. We were so in the zone.
From the tip, we were getting after it. When we won that game, we felt like we could beat anyone else.
Collier wasn't kidding. Having ousted Maryland in Terrapins territory, the Huskies headed to legendary Rupp Arena in Lexington to tangle with 12th-ranked Kentucky, the No. 3 seed in the regional. It would be UW's first Sweet 16 game since 2001.
The Huskies built a double-digit lead in the second quarter, were up by 14 entering the final 10 minutes, and locked up an 85-72 win.
That meant another showdown with rival Stanford, also in Lexington. Washington raced to a 22-7 lead by the end of the first quarter and locked up their Final Four spot with an 85-76 victory.
It's hard to play the same teams over and over and over again, but it kind of gives you that feeling of 'I know you and I know what you want to do. So who can come out and do it better for 40 minutes, Walton said of the third meeting that season against the Cardinal. I don't think there was ever a doubt. From the locker room to the warm-ups to the tip-off to the final buzzer we knew we were gonna win.
The Pac-12 had three of the Elite Eight teams (Oregon State joined UW and Stanford), then the Huskies and Beavers ultimately comprised half of the Final Four.
Kingma, now 30 with a 1-year-old and who currently works in wealth management after majoring in finance, felt that emerging from the rugged Pac-12 benefitted Washington during March Madness.
I think it prepared us for the tournament – we were battle-tested, Kingma said. We were prepared from the beginning, and when we were in, it was just continuing to stay locked in.
A ROLE FOR EVERYONE
Like successful teams in every sport, that group of Huskies was built on more than just the stars like Walton, Plum and junior forward / center Chantel Osahor (who was named the Lexington Regional MVP). There were role players such as Collier, who started all 37 games and was the team's leading shot blocker with 41. There also was an unsung hero or two, one of those being senior guard Alexus Atchley.
Nabes (Coach Neighbors) was so good about it, said Collier, who majored in early childhood education at Washington, is now 32 and a mom. He said, 'Katie, you're not going to score' and then selling me on that. I wanted to screen for Kelsey and I want her to score. I wanted to screen for 'T' (Walton) and I want her to score.
We were so bought in on the team and not for ourselves, she added. We wanted to win and we were willing to do anything and do certain roles so we could win.
Atchley played in all 37 games that year, starting the final 21. She averaged just 4.9 points, but scored in double figures seven times, including four times in Washington's seven postseason games.
She showed up to work, worked hard, and was a great teammate, Walton said. She was the glue for us. We all had our roles and that was hers: Do the dirty work, get on the floor, pick up the full-court – whatever was asked of her. She just fit in, and she would do it with a smile and toughness. You can't teach that.
Their stay at the Final Four in Indianapolis didn't last as long as the Huskies would have liked.
Facing No. 14-ranked Syracuse – the same team they had nearly knocked off during a preseason tournament before falling four points short – Washington dropped behind early and never was able to climb all the way back. The Orange prevailed, 80-59, despite 29 points from Walton on 10-of-15 shooting (8 of 9 behind the arc). Two nights later, Connecticut won its third straight crown, beating Syracuse, 82-51.
Although the Final Four loss was disappointing at that moment in time, the Huskies on Sunday welcomed the opportunity to bask in the glow again of what they did and how they did it …
… even though 10 years really have gone by since then.
I coach now and I always tell my girls that amazing things can happen if you believe in yourself and just trust the process, said Walton, 33 and in her second year at Seattle Prep after double-majoring in sociology and American ethnic studies at Washington, then coming back and completing her master's.
You just do the work and show up for each other.
