WBB: 2017-18 SEASON REVIEW

Rebuilding Season Over, Huskies Look Ahead To 2018-19 Season // 3.15.18

By Washington Huskies

March 17^th, 2018

Rebuilding a perennial power in the best conference in the country is never easy. It is especially challenging when the team returns just 11 percent of its scoring and rebounding from the previous season and starts the season with just 10 healthy players. But that's the situation University of Washington women's basketball head coach Jody Wynn found herself in as she took over the Huskies' program at the beginning of the 2017-18 season.

Washington had five returning players on the roster — just one who had started a college game — to go along with five freshmen. Despite the inexperience and the fact that no Husky on the active roster stood taller than 6-1, Washington proved to be a gritty, gutty team which gave many of its opponents as much as they could handle. The Huskies finished the 2017-18 season with a 7-23 overall record, but that record failed to tell the story of the season.

"Although our record doesn't display the amount of wins we would like, our coaching staff is very pleased with the overall progress of our team and as individual athletes," Wynn said. "We competed with some of the best teams in the nation and gave ourselves chances to win those games. Throughout the course of the year, we got better in the sense that we might not have won as many games as we did in the preseason, but we grew stronger as a unit. I think we showed a lot of resiliency over the course of the season and the scoreboard might not have told the true story many times."

Washington's schedule was once again one of the toughest in the country, ranking as the 26th most difficult overall of the 349 NCAA DI programs. Eleven of the Huskies' 22 opponents reached the NCAA Tournament with UW recording wins against two of those opponents: Seattle U and Creighton.

"We beat a handful of tough teams and played right there with some of the teams that not only went into the tournament this year, but should go deep in the tournament," Wynn said. "We want to schedule great opponents. That's how we can measure ourselves for the NCAA Tournament in the future and we are going to continue to do so."

The Huskies proved to be tough defensively, leading the Pac-12 in turnovers forced at 17.8 per game and finishing third in steals with 279 (9.3 per game). Washington was also a threat from deep, ranking second in the conference in three-pointers made (254) and three-pointers per game (8.5).

"When you are undersized, taking away possessions is important," Wynn said. "We might not always get the defensive rebound, but for us, a forced turnover or a steal is a defensive rebound. We may have been getting beat on the boards some nights, but we were the leader in the conference and among the top teams in the country in forcing turnovers and we are going to continue to be so and recruit to that system."

Injuries forced the Huskies to finish the season with just seven healthy players after opening the year with 10 on the active roster: a tough break for a team which relies on high-pressure defense and a deep bench. Washington lost four players to season-ending injuries before the season started and saw three freshmen — Missy Peterson, Kierra Collier and Fapou Semebene — suffer injuries throughout course of the year.

"In our system, we rely on playing 10 players consistently," Wynn said. "When you are down to nine, we had one less rotation available to us. Then we were down to eight and by the end of the year, when we had seven, we really weren't able to play the defensive system we were able to build up over the course of the preseason and the beginning of conference play. That really changed a lot of our possessions and strategy in terms of figuring out ways to compete when teams are so much bigger than us."

Sophomore guard Amber Melgoza had a banner season, finishing second in the Pac-12 in scoring and earning All-Pac-12 honors. Melgoza averaged 19.0 points per game in her breakout year, including a scoring average of 20.6 ppg in Pac-12 competition—leading the conference. She scored 20 or more points in 14 games including three games scoring 30 or more. Melgoza finished the season with 570 points—11th most in a season in program history—after scoring just 53 points in 25 games her freshman season.

"Amber had a phenomenal sophomore season, one in which she showed that she can be one of the best players in this conference and among the best players in the country in years to come," Wynn said. "She is the ultimate competitor and rises to the occasion based on the level of competition we faced."

Melgoza established a Pac-12 record in a game at Oregon on Dec. 31, scoring 23 of her 31 points in the fourth quarter. Those 23 points were the most in a quarter in conference history. It was one of 14 quarters Melgoza scored in double-figures on the season.

Melgoza closed out the season by scoring 121 points over her final four games including an impressive 40 points against Stanford in the penultimate regular-season game. She became just the third player in program history to score 40 or more points in a game.

"Amber learned how to let the game come to her over the course of the year, learning when to attack, when not to attack," Wynn said. "She spent so much extra time on the court and in the film room, her basketball IQ really improved over the course of the season as she worked tirelessly both on and off the court to get better every day."

Fellow sophomore Mai-Loni Henson finished the year as the second-leading scorer on the team, averaging 9.4 points per game. Henson, who averaged just 2.9 points per game in 31 games as a freshman, reached double-figures in 14 games. Henson had a pair of double-doubles for the Huskies, recording the team's first with 14 points and 10 rebounds versus Portland. She also had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double at Arizona in February. Henson earned all-tournament honors at the Las Vegas Thanksgiving Shootout thanks to a 17-point, nine-rebound performance against Creighton.

"Mai-Loni played her best basketball towards the end of the year," Wynn said. "As the season progressed, she learned how to attack when necessary, how to move without the ball and become one of our better defenders. By the end of the year, her decision-making made it tough to take her off the court. We place a high premium on defense and she became a reliable force."

Seniors Mackenzie Wieburg and Jenna Moser completed impressive journeys to becoming key contributors in 2017-18. Moser, who started her career as a practice player, was the lone player to start all 30 games for the Huskies and led the team in minutes played at 30.9 per game. She finished the season averaging 8.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.8 steals per contest. Her steal total was fifth-best in the conference.

"Jenna is a consummate team player," Wynn said. "She doesn't dominate the ball but still finds ways to score. I honestly think she is pound-for-pound one of the toughest players in the league. Jenna's ability to shoot the three, get by people on north-south drives as well as pressure defenders 94 feet made it impossible for us to take her off the court. We asked her to pressure the ball all year and she never took a possession off in practice or in games."

Wieburg also was a key leader on the team just three seasons after being a walk-on as a freshman. The senior averaged just 2.7 points per game, but was an integral part of the team, helping the young team run the offense and providing a spark on defense.

"As a senior, for Mac to make an impact in the program the way she did, I'm really proud of her growth and thought she had an outstanding senior season," Wynn said. "Mac was a player that didn't necessarily need the shot attempts, but was able to knock down some big shots throughout the year. Her communication with Jenna in the backcourt was fantastic in our press and she helped keep the offensive moving. Mac is a great cutter and understood what we were trying to do on offense and really took pride in her role."

Redshirt junior Hannah Johnson came into her own during conference play, averaging 8.6 points and 6.7 rebounds during the Pac-12 schedule. Johnson recorded four double-doubles on the season, recording career highs of 17 points against UCLA and 17 rebounds against Washington State. Johnson had a total of 33 rebounds in back-to-back games against the Cougars, becoming one of three players in program history to record at least 33 in consecutive games.

"Hannah battled every night against some of the best post players in the country and she never backed down," Wynn said. "She never used her lack of height as an excuse but always tried to find ways in which she could be more successful on the court. Hannah worked hard on her versatility like consistently shooting well from three-point range and her perimeter decision-making ability. Those were totally new to her game and she did well to embrace them. Overall we were really pleased with her reliability on the floor and her understanding of what we needed from her."

The Husky freshmen got tossed in the fire right away, each making at least one start and seeing regular action throughout the year. Kierra Collier earned All-Pac-12 Freshman Team honorable mention after making solid contributions especially on the defensive end. Collier averaged 6.6 points and added 52 assists and 25 steals. Her season was cut short after suffering a wrist injury during practice in January and her presence was missed during conference play. Despite attempting to play through the pain, Collier was eventually shut down in mid-February.

"Kierra is a spark of energy and is kind of the captain of our defense," Wynn said. "I don't think there is a guard that wants to play against her on-ball defense. She has got a long wing-span and a high IQ. She got into a bit of foul trouble early in the season and that's just learning as a freshman how games are called on this level. But Kierra was an energizer for us on the basketball court and created offense through her defense. It was unfortunate that her season was cut short due to injury but we are looking forward to a really strong sophomore season for us."

Fellow freshmen Alexis Griggsby and Khayla Rooks each averaged 5.0 points per game for the Huskies. Griggsby was the lone UW freshman to appear in all 30 games, finishing fourth in steals with 29 and adding 21 assists. Rooks also battled injury through much of the year, but averaged 2.8 rebounds. Her best game came at #9 Ohio State where she scored a team-high 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

Missy Peterson led the team in field goal percentage, hitting 51.1 percent of her shots before suffering a season-ending knee injury at Washington State. Peterson finished the year averaging 3.3 points per game in 18 games. Fapou Semebene ranked second on the team with 4.2 rebounds per game, adding 3.0 points per contest while also battling an injury which would end her season late. Semebene would average 14.4 minutes through 25 games in her freshman campaign.

The Huskies finished the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 6-5 record including an overtime win over cross-town rival and eventual WAC Champion Seattle U on Dec. 20. Washington also looked impressive against #9 Ohio State, trailing by just six at halftime and using a late run to pull within three in the fourth quarter before falling 85-76. Washington was also able to hang on for a 67-64 win over Creighton, which finished third in the Big East Conference and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

In Pac-12 play, the Huskies seemed to be plagued by one bad quarter. In 12 of their 17 losses, Washington had a bad quarter where it was outscored by an average of nearly 16 points. However, the Huskies won the other three quarters in those games seven times and was within five points in the other five.

One of those games where Washington put together four good quarters came against its Apple Cup rivals in a 56-49 win over Washington State on January 21. Just four days after a frustrating, overtime loss in Pullman, the Huskies' defense shined, holding the Cougars to just 49 points and forcing a season-high 20 turnovers. Johnson had a 13-point, 17-rebound double-double while Melgoza scored 14 points and added five rebounds.

Washington put four good quarters together again against California in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. The Huskies and Bears battled back and forth with 10 lead changes and seven ties in the hard-fought game. California led by as many as 11 early in the third period before Washington used an 18-2 run to take a 51-45 lead late in third. However, the Cal was able to take back the lead and held off the Huskies 71-68.

Despite the loss to end the season, the Huskies continued to prove all the way to the end that they were a tough team to play.

Off the court, the Huskies saw five players receive Pac-12 Academic All-Conference honors as Moser, Wieburg, Johnson, Henson and Melgoza earned honorable mention recognition. The All-Conference honors go to student-athletes who have posted a 3.00 GPA or better and appeared in 50% or more of their team's games.

Washington loses just two seniors from the young squad as Moser and Wieburg concluded their final seasons in purple and gold. The Huskies will return one junior (Johnson), two sophomores (Melgoza and Henson) and five freshmen next year in addition to a pair of already-signed incoming freshmen. Washington is expected to announce additional signings in the April signing period to add depth not seen on the court much this season.

"Overall, we are pleased with our competitiveness against teams in the most difficult conferences in the country," Wynn said. "We believe that in most games we gave ourselves a chance to win and those wins will come with experience and growing the program. We definitely showed how hard we play at UW and that our effort matters on every possession. Our defensive intensity was constant, and this lead to becoming one of the leaders in the conference and the country in forced turnovers and steals."

"We are pleased with the overall effort but we aren't satisfied with the outcome of where we lie in the conference," Wynn concluded. "We got a great taste of where we want to be and we are excited for the offseason to build on this past year and really work on turning weaknesses into strength both individually and collectively."