Next up: Washington at last

The Cardinal hits the road for its last two games of the regular season – its only meeting with the Washington Schools:

• Washington on Thursday night, February 28 at 7:00.
• Washington State on Saturday, March 2 at noon.

Both games will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks and broadcast by KZSU.

  Washington Huskies

The Huskies have continued to improve in Kevin McGuff's second season as head coach.

They were contending with UCLA for third place in the Pac-12 standings until last week when they lost to Utah and Colorado. They're now tied with Colorado for fourth place and are likely to end the season in fifth place (Colorado's games this week are against the Oregon schools). That will be a nice step up for the Huskies, who finished in a tie for seventh last season.

The Huskies have accomplished this in spite of being short-handed and inexperienced. They have just ten active players on the roster – four of them are redshirt or true freshmen. Only seven have gotten significant playing time.

They will be even shorter-handed against the Cardinal. Sophomore guard Jazmine Davis (19.2 ppg, 3.24 apg, the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year), redshirt freshman forward Talia Walton (13.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and redshirt freshman reserve Deborah Meeks will serve one-game suspensions Thursday for a violation of team rules. (Read more about that here.)

The Huskies are a strong defensive team that can slow games down and force opponents into turnovers and missed shots. They lead the Pac-12 in turnover margin; they average 12.2 per game against their opponents' 17.9.

They also lead the Pac-12 in three-point shooting – both in average per game (8.37) and percentage made (33.8).

The Huskies' biggest weakness is rebounding. Their most promising freshman, forward/center Katie Collier, who was expected to replace Regina Rogers, is out for the season with a torn ACL. They rank at or near the bottom of the Pac-12 in all rebounding statistics.

The Huskies who will probably each play close to 40 minutes on Thursday are:

• #10, 5'11" redshirt senior guard/forward Kristi Kingma is an outstanding three-point shooter. She set the UW single-season record with 79 in her junior year. After sitting out last season with a torn ACL, she's broken that record with 81 so far this season. She capped that ahievement two weeks ago when she set the Pac-12 single-game record with 11. She's the Huskies' second-best scorer (14.1 ppg) and third-best rebounder (4.8 rpg).


• #23, 6'0" sophomore forward Aminah Williams is a vital part of the Huskies defense. She grabs the most rebounds (10.9 rpg) and gets the most steals (2.4 spg). She also scores 9.2 ppg.


• #1, 5'8" junior guard Mercedes Wetmore leads the offense for the Huskies. She averages 4.0 assists per game with just half that many turnovers. She also scores 7.4 ppg.


• #14, 6'1" freshman guard/forward Heather Corral broke her wrist before the season started, and didn't play until the last non-conference game. Since then she's come off the bench for almost 20 minute per game and averaged 4.4 ppg and 2.3 rpg. She takes 74% of her shots from beyond the arc. (She is former USC Star Ashley Corral's sister.)


• #16, 6'0" senior forward Jeneva Anderson comes off the bench for about ten minutes per game. If she starts on Thursday, it will be the first time this season. She averages 0.8 ppg and 1.8 rpg.

Here are Washington's 2012-13 statistics and roster.

  Washington State Cougars

Head coach June Daugherty's rebuilding of the Cougars is now in its sixth year, and it's again heading in the right direction. The Cougars finished 11th in the Pac-12 last season and are now No. 7. That's where they're likely to finish the season, possibly tied with Arizona State and/or USC.

Coach Daugherty usually sets a tough schedule for the Cougars, and this season was no exception. Their non-conference schedule included two top-25 teams and was ranked 45th in the nation at the beginning of conference play.

The Cougars returned only three starters from last season – one of them, sophomore guard Tia Presley, who was their top scorer, tore her ACL a month ago. The team includes six true freshmen who are a vital part of the Cougars' success. They are, Coach Daugherty says, "as good as advertised" and "a key part of a very bright future for the Cougars."

The Cougars have 13 active players. All but one of them play at least ten minutes per game, and only two play more than 20 minutes.

Scoring is a major weakness for the Cougars. They score the third-lowest points per game in the conference (60.1), and have the second-lowest field goal percentage (35.9). With Presley gone, only one player averages more than ten points per game. Also, they're not strong from beyond the arc. They have the lowest 3-point shooting percentage in the conference (25.6) and only one player who makes, on average, more than one per game.

The probable starters for the Cougars are:

• #3, 5'11" freshman guard Lia Galdeira leads the Cougars in scoring (14.8 ppg). rebounding (5.1 rpg) and steals (2.9 spg). She is on pace to become the leading freshman scorer in WSU history. She's been named the Pac-12 Player of the Week three times and is a strong candidate for Pac-12 Feeshman of the Year.


• #22, 6'1" junior guard/forward Sage Romberg averages 6.3 ppg and 4.7 rpg.


• #33, 6'5" senior center Carly Noyes owns the WSU career record for blocks (158) and will own the career record for games played (122) after this weekend. She averages 1.2 bpg, 3.2 rpg and 6.0 ppg.


• #4, 5'9" redshirt senior guard Katie Grad averages 2.5 ppg and 2.3 rpg.


• #11, 5'9" freshman guard Dawnyelle Awa has taken Presley's place in the starting five. She runs the point for the Cougars. She averages 24 assists per game with a 1.4 assist/turnover ratio.

Here are Washington State's 2012-13 statistics and roster.