UW Women Break for Holidays with Easy Win over Nevada

The University of Washington women's basketball team on Monday afternoon gave itself an early Christmas gift, a 58-42 victory over Nevada to savor for the next 10 days.

The Huskies (5-3) now break for the holidays after winning their third consecutive game for new coach Tina Langley and sweeping both of their games in the Husky Classic.

Haley Van Dyke, a 6-foot-1 junior from Moraga, California, and the UW's top returning player, topped her team with 20 points and 9 rebounds at Alaska Airlines Arena.

In the postgame, she took a moment to reflect on where the Huskies are now, especially compared to a year ago when a 7-14 season brought a coaching change and nearly made her transfer.

"I'm actually really excited just with our progress that we've made," Van Dyke said. "It's been incredible honestly. We've come such a long way. I think we're starting to realize our chemistry has gotten so much better over the past few weeks. We're enjoying playing with each other."

In this outing, Van Dyke and her teammates led from start to finish, building as much as a 21-point lead.

The Huskies used their size to limit Nevada (8-4) in its offensive opportunities, holding the Wolf Pack to 27.9 percent shooting. They also controlled the backgrounds, with a 37-29 advantage.

Nancy Mulkey, the UW's 6-foot-9 center and Rice transfer, added 10 points and 6 rebounds.

Eight games into her UW tenure after leaving Rice, Langley used 13 players against the Mountain West team, with 10 of them scoring. However, senior guard Alexis Griggsby, who's out with a knee injury suffered the game before against Eastern Washington, was noticeably missing.

This Husky team next plays against third-ranked Stanford (8-2) on December 31 at Alaska Airlines Arena to open Pac-12 play.

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