SEATTLE — The University of Washington Huskies women’s basketball (17-5) team fell 66-75 in a close game against the Illinois Fighting Illini (16-6) Sunday at Alaska Airline Arena. The Huskies put up a strong defensive front, but it wasn’t enough to defend their home court. 

“It was not our best day and we want to give credit to Illinois for that,” said Huskies Head Coach Tina Langley in a postgame press conference. “I thought they played really well, really tough, connected basketball and I think we’ll learn a lot from this game.” 

The matchup was tight from the beginning with UW just barely coming out on top of the first quarter by one point. Illinois had a strong showing in the second quarter where they took a significant lead over the Huskies to end the half at 29-37. 

In the second half, the Huskies kept the game closer, but the Fighting Illini extended their lead by three points. The fourth quarter became a shootout between the two teams with UW outscoring Illinois, but it wouldn’t be enough to fill the point deficit from earlier in the game with the Huskies losing by nine. 

UW set a season high in blocks during Sunday’s game by swatting away 10 Fighting Illini shot attempts. Sayvia Sellers matched her career best in the category, finishing with three blocks. 

“We did a good job of changing our defenses up a lot and so that gave us an opportunity to kind of climb back in and then we would go back to our man,” said Langley. “ 

Sellers scored 17 points for the Huskies with four assists, three blocks and two steals. Avery Howell also bolstered the UW offense with 17 points and seven rebounds, marking her 10th game this season finishing with 15 or more points. Brynn McGaughy added on her own double-digit performance with 12 points, four rebounds and three blocks. 

Washinton’s problems came from an equally strong offensive front from Illinois as the team had four players score in double digits with Cearah Parchment scoring 23 and 10 rebounds, Berry Wallace scoring 22 points and seven rebounds, Maddie Webber scoring 13 points and Destiny Jackson scoring 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. 

UW was efficient from the field as they knocked down 54% of their shots and held Illinois to nine assists, which was a season low. Despite this Illinois grabbed 33 rebounds compared to the Huskies 24 with 14 of those converting into 26 second chance points.  

“It came down to O-boards a lot for us, we worked really hard to get a stop, get a possession (when) they’re at the free throw line,” said the Huskies Coach. “I think that’s really the thing that kind of took our momentum away each time.” 

The Huskies remain at home for their next matchup against Ohio State Thursday at 6 p.m. 

BOX SCORE:  

ILNS: 15-22-14-24: 75
UW: 16-13-11-26: 66