Women face hungry Huskies

But when UA's women's basketball team plays Washington in Seattle tonight, the No. 20 Huskies must do exactly that and beat the team that ran them off the court in Tucson, 93-62 Jan. 10.

After racing off to a 10-0 start this season, Washington (12-5 overall, 4-5 Pac-10) has dropped five of its last eight and runs the risk of losing touch with the conference leaders with a loss tonight.

Currently, the eighth-ranked Wildcats are tied for second place with Oregon and UCLA with a 7-2 conference record. Stanford is in first place at 8-1.

After tonight's game, Washington still has to host Stanford and travel to Oregon and UCLA.

"They really see our game as a must win," UA assistant coach Denise Dove said.

Washington coach June Daugherty dismissed the must win theory.

"We are just working really hard to get our confidence back," she said. "We need to finish up (the season) a lot stronger then we did in the first half of the season."

In the first matchup between the two teams, the Wildcats ran over the Huskies, behind redshirt freshman guard Reshea Bristol's 20 points and four assists.

The game was over by halftime, when UA already had a commanding 48-30 lead.

One of UA's keys to victory was the UA interior defense that held Husky junior forward Amber Hall to 13 points and three rebounds.

Hall is the only Pac-10 player to average a double-double with 16.9 points and 11.6 rebounds a game. She has tallied 13 double-doubles so far this season.

But as easy as the win in Tucson was for Arizona, Dove expects a much different story to emerge tonight.

"They are a different team at home," she said, adding the Wildcat players would not have a problem with the increased intensity. "Our players will definitely be ready. With Washington, we need to jump on them early. We need to send them a message that we're here to win."

On Saturday, UA has a chance to avenge its only home loss of the season when they travel to Pullman to take on the Washington State Cougars.

WSU beat the Wildcats on a halfcourt buzzer-beating three-pointer by freshman guard Tricia Lamb, a shot Cougar head coach Harold Rhodes called "the most dramatic shot in the history of Washington State women's basketball history."

No. 8 Arizona vs. No. 21 Washington

(14-4, 7-2 Pac-10)(13-5, 4-5)

When: Tonight at 8 p.m.

Where: Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle

TV/Radio: KFFN (1490 AM)

What: Washington looks to avenge a 93-62 loss to the Wildcats in Tucson Jan. 10...UA senior Adia Barnes, who leads the league in scoring at 22.3 points a game, will match up against Amber Hall, the only player in the Pac-10 to average a double-double with 16.9 ppg and 11.6 rpg.