All was not lost when the University of San Diego gutted out a 58-47 win over Washington in the quarterfinals of the women's National Invitation Tournament Sunday afternoon in front of 1,140 fans at Hec Edmundson Pavillion.
In winning three straight WNIT games impressively to get the Elite Eight, the Huskies have rediscovered the glory of seasons past. It portends of better things to come for the women's basketball program, which had been reeling after four losing seasons under former coach Talia Jackson.
"Our team has turned the Husky program around and hopefully we (the underclassmen) can keep it going," UW freshman forward Aminah Williams said graciously after her team's tough loss. "I wish all our seniors the best of luck in everything they do in the future. It was great playing with them in my first college (playing) experience. I will never forget them."
Four seniors are leaving, including Pac-12 all-conference player Regina Rogers and defensive specialist Charmaine Barlow, who are both Chief Sealth grads. Williams, a West Seattle resident and former Kennedy Catholic player, has singled out fellow Southwest Seattle-schooled teammates Rogers and Barlow time and again for helping her grow as a Division 1 player with their steadfast teaching and support.
Replacing the outgoing seniors will be high-scoring fifth-year senior guard Kristi Kingma, who sat out the season due to a knee injury, and three prized recruits from Washington state, purported to be part of one of the best recruiting classes in Husky history by some. Those players include: MacDonald's All-American 6-foot-3 center Katie Collier from Seattle Christian; Tacoma News Tribune Class 3A player of the year Heather Corral, a 6-foot-1 guard from state champ Prairie; and Hazen 5-foot-7 point guard Airashay Rogers, known for her speed, quickness and deft passing.
The rest of the players coming back were either freshman or sophomores this season for the Huskies, giving UW coach Kevin McGuff a stable foundation to work with.
In 10 NCAA seasons, nine with Xavier and one with UW, McGuff has never had a losing campaign. All 10 teams have gone to postseason tournaments. He has a 234-87 overall record as a head coach, including a 20-14 mark this season, marking the first time the Huskies recorded a 20-win season in nine years.
"He is a good coach," Aminah Williams said. "He knows a lot about the game and his defensive philosophy and style are the main reasons we had such a good season.
"It was also important he gave everyone a fair shot at beginning of the season," Williams added. "He gave everyone a fresh start no matter what happened in the past."
One of the players who benefited most from a clean slate was fifth-year senior Regina Rogers, who was nearly forgotten in ex-UW coach Talia Jackson's rotation last year, averaging only 12 minutes a game.
"Our coaches (McGuff and staff) didn't listen to what was being said on the outside," Rogers told KKNW 1150-AM after the game Sunday. "We just started all over. They believed in us and transformed this team. The coaches got behind me and pushed me to be the best I could be."
In finally getting her chance, Rogers, a 6-foot-3 center, was a scoring and rebounding force this season. And she blossomed into a big-time postseason player, leading in scoring in all four games.
Rogers (16.8 points a game, 8.6 rebounds per game) is the 21st player to score 1,000 points in UW women's basketball history.
In this season's finale, against San Diego (26-8), Rogers had 20 points and 13 rebounds. She hit a jumper from close range to tie it at 32-all -- completing an 11-2 run to start the second half -- but the Toreros rallied and UW had to continue to play catch-up the rest of the game.
After Aminah Williams (3.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg) was fouled when she collected one of her five offensive rebounds. She hit 1-of -2 free throws to make it 45-38 with 5:42 to play. Rogers would score the Huskies next nine points, one on a three-point play, only to see San Diego trade baskets at the end to protect their lead.
"I thought we got ourselves together at halftime and played really well, and really hard (out) there, but we kind of ran out of gas at the end," coach McGuff said.
In the first half, the Toreros took advantage of the Huskies poor shooting and led by 10 points, 27-17 at one juncture, and 30-21 at halftime.
"We struggled in the first half," said Williams, who had nine rebounds and six points. "We didn't have the intensity and energy in the first half that we had in the second. That cost us the game."
Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Year Jazmine Davis never could get on track during the contest. The Huskies' 5-foot-7 guard hit only 2 of 14 from the field (1 of 8 from the three-point attempts). UW shot poorly overall, hitting only 15 of 58 shots (26 percent) from the field. They were outrebounded as well, surprisingly, 49-45.
Going into the game, McGuff had hoped his players would have the edge on San Diego in rebounding, judging from past results. He said that would be one of the keys the game -- the team that rebounded best would win. San Diego's 6-foot-3 freshman Sophia Ederaine came off the bench and came up big, hauling in 13 rebounds and blocking nine shots, and changing the complexion of the game. She altered many of the UW players' shots and blocked three of Rogers' attempts in one Husky offensive sequence alone.
"She's (Ederline) very long," Williams said. "She has good instincts. We didn't get good shots. She was a big presence in there for her team."
San Diego, which was led by senior guard Morgan Woodrow's game-high 21 points, now faces Oklahoma State (20-12) Wednesday in Stillwater, Okla., in a WNIT semifinal game.
Though the Huskies lost to the Toreros in heartbreaking fashion, Regina Rogers said, as a senior, she was glad to be a part of the Husky program's turnaround and first postseason appearance since 2007 in her last collegiate season.
"It teaches the sophomores and freshmen that anything can happen," she said. "Hopefully they'll go a lot further next season."
