Huskies Basketball

Depth of talent and a collective resolve to rebound, rebound and rebound paid off for the Washington women's basketball team Sunday. The Huskies overcame a drought from their two scoring leaders to beat Northern Iowa 81-63 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

The victory in the championship game of the Basketball Travelers Husky Classic was the third in a row for the Huskies (3-2), who won despite the offensive struggles of senior guard Cameo Hicks and junior forward Andrea Plouffe.

Hicks, who was averaging 16.5 points a game, did not score until less than 7 minutes remained. She finished with eight points. Plouffe, who had scored 23 points in the Huskies' first-round victory over Saint Louis on Saturday, did not score at all against Northern Iowa.

At least two factors -- knee problems and a defensive emphasis by the Panthers -- forced Hicks into making just 1 of 9 field-goal attempts and caused Plouffe to go 0-for-7. Hicks is nursing a bruised right knee; Plouffe has tendinitis in both knees.

"We don't have the luxury of resting them right now," UW coach June Daugherty said. "They want to go ... they don't want to sit. Fortunately we've got a day off tomorrow, and hopefully we can get them calmed down a bit."

"I thought we did a great job on what I think are their two top players," DiCecco said.

As it turned out, other Huskies, including senior forwards Breanne Watson and Jill Bell and senior guard Cheri Craddock, picked up the scoring slack.

Watson was named the tournament's most valuable player after scoring 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Bell, named to the all-tournament team with Hicks, made 6 of 11 shots in scoring 12 points in addition to leading the team in rebounds (10) and assists (four). Craddock made 5 of 8 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, in scoring 12 points.

"I just went out and played," Watson said. "Obviously I knew they were hurting. June's been talking about needing someone to step up. But I don't necessarily look at myself to take that third scorer role. I just went out there and played hard and I was able to get some easy layups and get to the line."

Daugherty was pleased to see teammates take up the scoring slack. "We didn't have our regular 'go-tos' on all cylinders tonight," she said, "but what's exciting is to see the rest of the team step up and play big. I thought our bench was huge."

In identifying a key statistic, DiCecco looked no further than second-chance points, a category the Huskies led 22-6 as the result of retrieving 21 offensive rebounds. The Panthers had 12.

Although it took the Huskies awhile to take control, they never trailed. An early 7-0 run gave them a 13-4 lead that the Panthers could only whittle at. They scored the last eight points of the first half but still trailed 33-28 at intermission.

The Huskies' biggest lead of 19 points (81-62) came with 50 seconds to play.