Sophomore guard Sayvia Sellers drives to the basket during Washington's game against NDSU on Dec. 18, 2024 at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle, Wash.
Against North Dakota State, the Washington women’s basketball team jumped out to another big lead, as it has many times before. Only this time, it finally held on.
Sophomore guard Sayvia Sellers put up an efficient 18 points, while senior forward Tayra Eke recorded her second-straight double-digit game as UW tipped off the Husky Classic with a 64-51 win over on Wednesday afternoon.
“I thought the girls did a nice job, I like that they can come in and change a defensive scheme,” head coach Tina Langley said.
Like how it did against Utah in their prior game, the Huskies (8-4, 0-1 Big Ten) jumped out in front early, building a 20-point lead in the first half and staving off a number of pushes from the Bison (6-5). While the fourth quarter has been a disaster for much of Washington’s season, it was a strength against North Dakota State; with its lead waning, Washington shot 8 for 12 in the final minutes — compared to 8 for 19 for North Dakota State — to close out the game.
Washington raced out to a 17-6 lead, with North Dakota State making just two of its first 12 shots. A 63% shooting quarter would expand the gap to 22-6 after the first, with six different Huskies getting on the board.
“The first quarter we came out and completely committed to [disrupting NDSU’s scheme],” Langley said. “We tried to put a lot of pressure on them, and I thought we did a good job of that.”
A turnaround jumper from Eke stretched UW’s advantage to 20 with 6:57 left in the second, and in a welcome sight, UW looked to enjoy an easy, blowout victory. 11 first-half points from Sellers was complimented by a 22% clip from the Bison, as the Huskies cruised into halftime with a 34-15 lead.
NDSU made pushes in the second half, closing to within 11 on numerous occasions. Turnovers again hurt UW, with 16 on Wednesday keeping NDSU around despite shooting a mediocre 42.4% in the back half of the afternoon.
“We’d like to be a bit stronger in our games for longer,” Langley said
Ultimately, with a 45-30 cushion entering the fourth, Washington hung on, making the most of its few shots in the fourth while heavily disrupting North Dakota State’s offensive rhythm. The Bison never got closer than 11 in the fourth — reaching 56-45 with 4:49 remaining — with the Huskies overcoming seven fourth-quarter turnovers to put away the Bison with strong shooting down the stretch.
Washington is back in action today, facing off against Furman on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 2 p.m. at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Reach Sports Editor Andrew Sousa at sports@dailyuw.com. X: @andrew_soozay
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