Following a relatively slow start to her collegiate career and a sobering scoreless performance in her previous game, freshman forward Brynn McGaughy looked comfortable in her new setting thanks in part to a few trips to the weight room and advice from her Washington women’s basketball teammates.
“(They) kind of talked to me beforehand,” she said. “Basketball isn't that serious at the end of the day. It's a game we love. Just go out and play and have fun.”
The five-star recruit and 2025 McDonald’s All-American from Colfax scored a career-high 20 points and helped lead the 25th-ranked Huskies to a 71-39 nonconference win against Vermont.
Before Sunday’s game, McGaughy averaged 5.5 points and admittedly struggled adjusting to the speed and physicality of Division I basketball.
“It was just a learning process,” said McGaughy, who averaged 16.3 points, 9.1 rebounds as a senior while leading Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley to a 27-0 record and a Class 3A state title. “It exposes a lot. Practice helps and also the weight room too. That definitely helps a lot.”
After a 0-for-2 shooting display four days earlier, the 6-foot-3 post dominated the Catamounts inside while converting 9 of 15 field goals.
In front of 1,667 at Alaska Airlines Arena, she displayed strength, quickness and an adept shooting touch while dancing and spinning around defenders in the paint for an array of short hook shots, midrange jumpers and contested layups.
When asked if she derived extra motivation from her humbling scoreless performance against Fresno State, McGaughy credited teammates for her breakout performance.
“I don't really think it matters about the points,” she said. “It just matters how you come out and how you love your teammates and how you do it with them at the end of the day. This is a really fun game, and I get to do it with people I love.”
Junior guard Sayvia Sellers, who is tied for second in the Big Ten with 21.2 points per game, continued her red-hot scoring spree and paced Washington with a game-high 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting. She also had four assists.
Meanwhile, senior guard Hannah Stines tallied her second career double-double (11 points and 10 rebounds).
“My teammates were boxing out well today,” Stines said. “I didn't have a set intention to get more rebounds today, but I'm always trying to grow in that area.”
Washington led 29-20 at halftime and broke the game open in the third quarter while outscoring Vermont 20-9.
“We showed a couple clips and talked about the way we were playing,” coach Tina Langley said. “We could see our own tempo. And when you can see it, it's easy to fix. And so I thought they did a great job. They saw it, and they were like, ‘Yeah, we can be a little quicker.’”
The Huskies led 33-24 when Sellers, who had 13 points in the third, scored nine straight points during a decisive 11-0 run capped by Stines’ layup to go ahead 44-24.
“Aggressive Sayvia is really special,” Langley said. “She does a tremendous job. She carries a load some days because she can get to the paint. She just has a gift. So, when we need to get to the basket, Sayvia is the one that we're going to call her number, and she always rises to that occasion.”
In the second half, Washington shot 62.1% from the field and held Vermont to 25.8% while outscoring the Catamounts 42-19.
The Huskies had more rebounds (45-28), assists (13-5), points in the paint (54-24), second-chance points (22-8), bench points (30-6) and fewer turnovers (9-14) during the game.
The only blemish for UW was its 2-of-16 shooting on three-pointers.
Keira Hanson scored 12 points for Vermont, which fell to 4-2.
Washington has hardly been threatened while registering double-digit wins in every outing and outscoring opponents by an average of 18.2 points.
The Huskies (5-0) continue their five-game homestand Tuesday against Southern (1-4) and Friday versus UC San Diego (2-3).
“We traveled a good bit last year, and I thought it would be really neat for us to be able to be with our families at Thanksgiving,” Langley said. “Hopefully, everybody's home for Thanksgiving and we can bring all of Seattle. That would be fun.
“But also, it's preseason. It's a time of the year that you want to really add and grow and get better. And so, it's an opportunity to have more practices than you would sometimes have when you travel a lot. So, we're excited for that.”
Note:
— Preseason All-Big Ten guard Elle Ladine, who led UW with a 17.0 scoring average last season, participated in pregame warmups for the second straight game, but did not play. She’s missed five games due to an undisclosed injury. Langley described her status as day-to-day.
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