Oregon at Washington Preview

After defeating the Colorado Buffaloes 67-62 in their last game, the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball squad will travel on the road to face their rivals, the Washington Huskies, at 10:00 ET on Thursday. The Ducks are in a much better position to win with Lowe’s Senior Class finalist Amanda Johnson back from a fractured thumb. This team is significantly better with her on the court, and this has showed during the past few games.

Washington (12-9,4-7) is exactly one win behind the Ducks in the conference and overall standings. The Huskies have some star
power in center Regina Rogers, who leads the team with 16 points
per game and 8.2 rebounds per game. Both Johnson and Jasmin Holliday are two more than capable defensive players in the
frontcourt, but Rogers has the ability to take things over if
not consistently stopped.

Ariel Thomas put forth a few disappointing and inefficient
displays too many leading up to the game against Colorado. She
was simply shooting far too much and didn’t connect on enough of
those attempts. Thomas snapped out of her funk, and she needs to
build on that display and continue to prove to be a viable option for the Ducks as a starter and scorer.

Rogers isn’t the only scoring threat to watch out for on the Huskies, because guard Jazmine Davis averages 15.3 points per game. She may average more than four turnovers per game, but Davis’s ability as a scorer trumps her ball security issues. However, watch for point guard Nia Jackson to capitalize on this weakness with her defensive prowess.

As always, the Huskies will prove to be a challenge for the Oregon Ducks with players such as Rogers and Davis. However, the Ducks are the better team and should pick up a handy 71-65 road victory against the Huskies. Amanda Johnson will have a 15 and 10 game and is clearly the best player in the conference. She is also one of the greatest players in all of women’s college basketball and will play to that standard tomorrow night.