Preview: UW Hosts St. Mary’s and Ex-Husky Ali Bamberger, Sat. @ 1PM

The Washington Huskies Women’s Basketball program hosts the Saint Mary’s Gaels on Saturday, December 16th at 1PM Pacific.

The Huskies (10-0) face the Saint Mary’s Gaels (4-6) on Saturday, December 16th at 1PM Pacific.

The video broadcast of the matchup between the Huskies and Saint Mary’s will be streaming on Washington Livestream; as well as, streaming audio at LISTEN TO HUSKIES RADIO CALL.

In their last game before facing Washington, Saint Mary’s lost at UC Davis, 66-87.

The Return of Ex-Husky Ali Bamberger

Saturday’s matchup marks the return of Ali Bamberger to HecEd, a very promising freshman from the 2019-2020 Washington Huskies team.

Unfortunately, Bamberger suffered a serious knee injury against UCLA in her freshman campaign as a Husky, which led to her transfer closer to home to tackle an arduous injury rehab.

As we reported at the time Washington’s Ali Bamberger Enters into Transfer Portal After Severe Injury Shortens Her UW Freshman Campaign:

Prior to injury, Bamberger was just reaching her highest performance level as a freshman player.

Against UCLA, Bamberger was having her best game as a Dawg, leaving the game with a season-high 12 points (4-for-5 shooting overall) plus five rebounds and a season-high three assists.

This followed Ali’s previous best game of the season, a few days earlier, versus USC at home — where Bamberger totaled 10 points and 8 rebounds.

Throughout the season, Bamberger showed flashes of her versatility as a modern “position-less” big — shooting 34.8% from the behind the three-point-line; demonstrating effective high post play as a passer and screener; as well as, an improving post game.

Currently, the Gaels second-leading scorer at 9.7 points (and 5.0 rebounds) per game, Ali Bamberger scored her 1000th point in her career in the second game of the season — Ali scored 106 points as a Washington Husky.

It’s unfortunate that Ali Bamberger’s Husky career was cut short, it’s very likely she would have been a key contributor for the Huskies under Coach Tina Langley.

St. Mary’s Offense

St. Mary’s offense averages 60.5 points per game; while the Huskies average 71.6 points per game — a 11.1 point differential.

St. Mary’s is an average three-point shooting team at 32.4% accuracy from beyond the arc — averaging 18.2 three-point attempts per game.

Defensively, Washington defenders are holding opponents to only 21.6% shooting from three-point range (ranked in Top 11% nationally).

Interestingly, the undersized St. Mary’s team is more focused on attacking from two-point range, making 50.7% of their two-point attempts.

Zeryhia Aokuso is a 5’10” freshman guard and the leading scorer for the Gaels at 10.1 points per game.

Zeryhia Aokuso is shooting 66.7% of her three-point attempts but is a low volume shooter (4 for 6), while making 52% of her two-point attempts (39 for 75).

Aokuso prefers too attack the lane, where she shoots 69.2% (18 for 26) within 4.5 feet of the rim; 52.2% (12 for 23) from farther out in the lane area.

Tayla Dalton is a 5’9″ guard and the Gaels third-leading scorer at 9.5 points per game.

Tayla Dalton is an efficient inside-outside scorer.

Dalton shoots 38.1% from three-point range (8 for 21); but excels at finishing at the rim — making 74.1% of her two-point attempts within 4.5 feet of the rim (20 for 27).

Washington Defense

The Huskies are coming off an excellent defensive performance against the WSU Cougars and should present a similar stifling defense presence against the Gaels.

Expect the Huskies to challenge Gaels guards Zeryhia Aokuso and Tayla Dalton toboth limit their offensive touches and cut off their dribble-drive lane penetration. and tightly contest all of their shots.

Likewise, Washington should control the lane with shot blocking (contesting all shots inside); as well as defensive rebounding to limit the effectiveness of Ali Bamberger.

Washington averages 30.9 defensive rebounds per game, which ranks in the Top 6% among Division One schools nationally.

Meanwhile, the Gaels only average 7.5 offensive rebounds per game, ranking in the Bottom 3% nationally.

The Huskies also average 4.0 blocks per game, which ranks among the Top 22% of Division One schools nationally.

Washington Offense

The Huskies are currently averaging 33.8% accuracy from three-point range (with 7.2 made three-pointers per game on 21.3 attempts from beyond the arc).

UW has seven players shooting 30% or better from beyond the arc :

Jayda Noble (40.0%);
Lauren Schwartz (40.5% );
Teagan Brown (38.5%),
Hannah Stines (37.9%);
Elle Ladine (33.3%);
Chloe Briggs (33.3%); and
Sayvia Sellers(30.0%).

Washington’s offense is also very efficient from mid-range and close range, averaging 53.6% on two-pointers and 63.4% within 4.5 feet of the rim.

Overall, 51.1% of the UW Huskies made shots are the result of their 13.9 assists per game.

Prediction: Huskies Win!

Washington will win this game against an overmatched St,. Mary’s team in a blowout victory at home.

GO DAWGS!