Top takeaways from UW Women’s basketball’s blowout home win over Seattle University on November 4th, 2024
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – To begin their 2024-25 campaign, the first season in the Big Ten and fourth under head coach Tina Langley, the Washington Husky women’s basketball team cruised to a blowout victory over a crosstown rival in the Seattle University Redhawks that saw the Huskies lead reached 48 points early into the fourth quarter. Washington was able to assert their dominance thanks to a first quarter that saw them dominate Seattle with a point differential of 25, as starters Dalaya Daniels, Elle Ladine, and Hanna Stines all chipped in with four steals in the frame highlighting the sort of strong team defense that the Huskies showed in the victory. While it’s tough to form real, complete thoughts for who Washington will be this season after just one victory over a Redhawks program that isn’t necessarily anything special, we can at least begin to form some thoughts and here they are.
University of Washington Husky graduate forward Dalayah Daniels during her teams 95-53 home win over the Seattle University Redhawks at the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmunson Pavilion on Monday, November 4th, 2024. (Photos by Rowan Schaberg)
Dalayah Daniels and Elle Ladine will be big factors
Two of the biggest names that have been mainstays for the Huskies from last season are Dalayah Daniels and Elle Ladine, and Washington getting the most out of those two would go a long way towards greater team success during this 2024-25 season. Daniels’ athleticism was on full display in the first half of this game, from her acrobatic driving layup to her steal and score that forced a Redhawks timeout during Washington’s big 22-0 run in the opening quarter. The Huskies were able to suffocate Seattle University with perimeter defense, with part of that being due to Daniels’ length and athleticism. While we’ll discuss what transfers Tayra Eke and Brenna McDonald will bring with their size, Daniels is part of the Washington forward group that’s looking to make up for not necessarily having a lot of presence inside. With her size and athletic ability, Dalayah can be a problem for opposing offensives and should be a fun piece to this Husky attack with the ball as well.
Ladine has always been a fun player due to her shot creation and passing ability, which was on full display in this victory over Seattle university. Like Daniels, Ladine had a big impact in Washington adding on to their first half lead as she hit a few key three pointers while remaining active defensively which played into the Huskies’ success on that side of the ball tonight. Ladine had a few different highlights in this contest, from success beyond the arc, a buzzer beating shot as the Huskies were struggling to get an attempt off, and a few great passes to help keep the Washington offense flowing. Ladine’s shot making and passing ability will be big factors for them going forward, as there doesn’t appear to be one primary shooter or ball handler on the roster currently. Getting consistent shooting and defensive activity from Elle this season will be big and will add to the “all of us can shoot” approach that the Huskies seem to have.
University of Washington Husky junior guard Elle Ladine during her teams 95-53 home win over the Seattle University Redhawks at the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmunson Pavilion on Monday, November 4th, 2024. (Photos by Rowan Schaberg)
Eke and McDonald will be key forces in the frontcourt
Transfer forwards Tayra Eke and Brenna McDonald need to be a major factor for Washington this season in the paint if the Huskies are going to be able to go up against some of their competition in the Big Ten this year. Washington really doesn’t have much size outside of sophomore forward Olivia Anderson, so getting the most out of the forward group that now features graduate student Breanna McDonald and senior Tayra Eke will be critical when it comes to the nightly rebounding battle and what goes on in the paint. The Huskies outscored the Redhawks in the paint by 18 points and dominated the rebound battle by 26 points, and while I wouldn’t expect this to be a common occurrence for Washington, if their past experience is something we can trust to go off then the Huskies will be able to hang with some of the more physical, bigger teams in the conference. In terms of their defensive effort, while they only combined for one block in this game (Eke got the one block but Langley said she deserved a second one on the scoresheet that wasn’t counted), experience shows that they’ll be critical for Washington defensively in the paint and within the arc. Eke, who’s coming from Eastern Michigan, averaged two blocks per game and tallied 23 steals this past season while earning All-MAC honors for that strong junior campaign. The year before, she led the conference in blocks and has ranked top ten in rebounding in the conference the last two seasons. In looking at McDonald, who transferred in from Yale, she led her team and the entire Ivy League in the block department while ranking fourth in rebounding this past season in addition to leading the league in blocks in back-to-back years. Getting close to those levels of performance from those two will be big for Washington.
“She’s just pretty darn solid. I mean, she’s three for three from the floor, six rebounds, and obviously had a great block, but they didn’t give her credit for, by the way, but yeah, I think she’s going to be an incredible player. Very unselfish. rebounds the ball, can switch, can trap, she just moves really well. She is really understanding her athleticism. she’s getting up and getting up into the rim. We won’t give her too hard of a time about being close to dunking, but she’s an elite athlete and very unselfish. I think she has a lot to give”
The bench has bite
Led by Teagan Brown’s 14 points off the bench, the Washington bench displayed that they’ve got some punch to their game and that’s going to be valuable as this Huskies team overall looks to get a lot more from their offensive capabilities than they did last year. In total, 38 of Washington’s 95 points from this win came off the bench as head coach Tina Langley was able to freely provide minutes up and down the lineup due to how well her team was playing and the sort of command they had in this win. The Huskies have an intriguing bench makeup that’s mixed with experience and new blood, with Brown and Shaya Gillmer leading the charge in terms of who should give them the best minutes night in and night out. There’s some intrigue with some of the less experienced players there, with Olivia Anderson not seeing much action in her freshman year last season and then having freshman guard Devin Coppinger getting her first playing time in this win. Seeing an uptick in production from Washington’s bench group will be another key building block in the Huskies continuing their upward trend under Tina Langley, and if Teagan Brown’s performance in this win was any sign of what’s to come, she will be a very valuable piece to the puzzle this year.
A few of the University of Washington Husky bench players, including Teagan Brown who scored 14 points, during the teams 95-53 home win over the Seattle University Redhawks at the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmunson Pavilion on Monday, November 4th, 2024. (Photos by Rowan Schaberg)
Washington handled business
At the end of the day, this is an early season game, and you need to see Washington establish the dominance that we should be seeing against these two of opponents early on, especially so if you’re aware of the struggles that the Redhawks have had in recent seasons. Seeing the Huskies do just that, take advantage of a flat-footed opponent and get their entire roster some valuable minutes of experience to begin the first season that they’ll ever play in the Big Ten. It’s an expected result for Washington to go ahead and establish themselves as the better overall unit compared to who they played against, but good to see the depth get that experience and to give some idea of what we’ll see from the Huskies this season. When they face teams that can actually push them in transition and challenge them with size, then we’ll see who is able to step up or if Washington is able to have any facets of their game overcome those deficiencies. It’s just nice for them to do such a great job in multiple different areas of the game, with some notable things to fix. The ball handling for the Huskies needs to be better, as tougher teams will take far better advantage of that, and you could also argue that Washington could have been better with how their second half went as Seattle University did show some of their fight in the latter frames. Overall, it’s nice to have a satisfying win while noting there are areas to focus on moving forward.
“Yes, I agree with you, these are really unselfish young women. There were times where we didn’t even look at the basket, we just went to pass, we might want to work on that, but yeah. I want us to continue to be a team that’s committed to playing up-tempo and fast, looking to score, but still sharing the basketball and taking efficient shots.”
“I’m excited for it. I think we’re gonna be hard to guard, because everyone’s an option. So it’s fun, and our bigs do such a good job of sealing in the clothes, which opens up the guards, and then us shooting so well opens up the paint for the big so I think it’s gonna be really fun this season.”
“Our philosophy this season is to focus on our competitive stamina. The way we talk about that is, let’s be stronger a little longer. We really want to be competitive in every single moment, and so sometimes you can use that as you’re building your stamina. We just wanted to refocus on executing, because that’s mental stamina, and we wanted to focus on being stronger mentally and finish the game the way that we started.”
What’s next?
Following tonight’s blowout victory over the Seattle University Redhawks at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, the Washington Husky Women’s basketball team will continue a four-game homestand to begin the season when they host the University of Pacific Tigers on Thursday, November 7th, 2024, with a tipoff time of 6PM PST that will be broadcast live on B1G+ and over the airwaves at 1090 KPTR-AM. The Tigers come from the West Coast Conference, with the University of Pacific being located in Stockton, California. The four-game homestand is book ended by games against schools who call the state of Washington home, as after the game against Pacific and a battle against Siena (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) the Huskies will host Eastern Washington. Washington doesn’t get into Big Ten play until late December, so getting their game tuned up in the first few weeks of the season is key. For fans who purchased their tickets through Washington’s new "$24 for '24 We Win, You Win" ticket promotion for the first half of the 2024-25 schedule, they’ll get a a complimentary digital ticket to the next home game against Pacific on Thursday. The promotions' main purpose is that after each Husky win in the 2024 calendar year, fans who purchase this limited-time ticket package (available for just $24) will automatically receive the aforementioned complimentary digital ticket to the next home game. Each digital ticket will be delivered to your mobile device 24 hours prior to tip-off and your exact seating location will vary from game to game. Men's basketball and women's basketball packages are sold separately. You can click here if you’re interested in participating in that promotion.
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Cover photo and photos in this article by Rowan Schaberg. Check out our previous articles written by Rowan Schaberg here, and her portfolio here, as Rowan is a multi-media journalist that has written, video, and photo experience.
Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here.
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