FanPost

Williams Breaks Rebounding Record, Plum Nets 35 as Washington Thrashes Oregon, 91-69

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Post-Game Highlights

It was one of the easier rebounds of her career, but 15 seconds into the second against the Oregon Ducks on friday night in Eugene, Aminah Williams secured the fifth of her team high 11 boards and in the process became the University Of Washington’s all time leading rebounder. It is an accomplishment that should not be overlooked. Williams, a senior who is listed at 6’ but in reality is 5’ 10" was recruited to play guard but has spent her time in Montlake playing power forward. What makes her an elite rebounder tho is that despite having the physical build of Olive Oyl, she has the toughness of Popeye and a desire to get every lose ball that only Dennis Rodman and Charles Barkley can rival.

It is the third school record to fall so far this season for Washington (Kelsey Plum set the single game scoring record in the season opener netting 45 and later became the fastest player to 1,000 points) and it will not be the last. Within the next four games senior guard Jazmine Davis will become UW’s all time leading scorer, and Redshirt Junior Talia Walton will become the all time blocks leader.

Coming into Oregon the Dawgs new they were facing a different Ducks team than in years past. No longer does Oregon run ‘The System’ in an attempt to shoot opponents into submission. Instead, head coach Kelley Graves’ team has a more traditional, defensive minded approach that focuses around star Junior post Jillian Alleyne. Apparently nobody gave the Huskies the memo about Oregon slowing down. The Dawgs went full throttle from the word ‘go’ and never trailed. They built a first half lead as big as 13 and took a 40-31 lead into the half.

The second half saw the onslaught continue as Washington poured in 51 points in the period to build a lead that reached as high 27 en route to 91-69 win.

Both Washington and Oregon had three players in double figures. Oregon was led by Alleyne who finished 18 points and a game high 15 rebounds. Oregon’s bench actually outscored Washington’s 14-11, and Oregon even outshot Washington from behind the arc knocking down 10-24 to UW’s 8-23.

What made the game the blowout that it was was the performance of the best player in the country. Kelsey Plum, fresh off a 30 point, 5 rebound performance against Cal, poured in 35 points to go along with a team high 5 assists and 5 rebounds. All of this while shooting 12-19 from the floor, including 4-7 from downtown, going a perfect 7-7 from the line and finishing with ZERO turnovers.

Also of note were the performances of Talia Walton and Jazmine Davis. The former finishing with 16 pints, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. The latter finishing with 13 points, 4 assists and a steal. Katie Collier came off the bench for UW and showed that she will be a legitimate challenger for any post player in the PAC-12. She finished with 2 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks in only 9 minutes. All of which saw her guarding Alleyne.

Along with Alleyne, Amanda Delgado and Lexi Bando also scored in double figures for Oregon, both Finishing with 11. Delgado also contributed a game high 6 assists in the losing effort.

Washington (14-3, 3-2 PAC-12) next plays at Oregon State on Monday.