Plum finished with 26 points and became the 12th player in team history to reach 1,500 points. She moved into 11th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,509.
Chantel Osahor patrolled the paint with malicious intent while Kelsey Plum and Talia Walton took care of the scoring for the Huskies in their second straight dominant performance.
The trio was the cornerstone for the Washington women’s basketball team, which used speed, athleticism and power to overwhelm cross-town rival Seattle University for a 96-55 blowout victory in front of 1,160 Wednesday at Alaska Airlines Arena.
“We had a lot of contributions,” coach Mike Neighbors said. “As a coach you’re always pushing and I know we can play better, but we were very, very good tonight.”
Plum raced around the court, leapt in the air and bounced off opposing players while drawing fouls, sinking layups and converting old-school three-point plays. She finished with 26 points and six assists while continuing an assault on school records.
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The junior guard became the 12th player in UW history to reach 1,500 points and moved into 11th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,509.
Meanwhile, Walton patiently picked apart the defense with pinpoint shooting and followed up on a career-high 33-point outing in the season opener with 18 against Seattle U.
The senior forward has converted 17 of 24 shots, including 7 of 10 Wednesday.
Washington received 44 points from its stars Plum and Walton, but Osahor proved to be the catalyst on this night.
The 6-foot-2 junior collected a career-high 20 rebounds – a feat matched by just three other players in UW history – and was an unstoppable force inside for the Huskies, who enjoyed a 61-39 rebounding advantage and outscored SU 50-10 in the paint.
“She gets so many tough rebounds,” Neighbors said. “The hard ones. … She fights so hard for tough rebounds.”
Osahor also held Seattle U’s leading scorer, Taelor Ross, to nine points on 3-for-17 shooting, which was 5.5 fewer than her 14.5 scoring average.
“I was just kind of mentally ready before the game,” said Osahor, who finished with 12 points, four assists and three steals in 26 minutes. “It just kind of clicked in the game. I don’t really have an explanation.”
Osahor also burned the Redhawks with long outlet passes that ignited UW’s offense, which shot 42.7 percent on field goals.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Plum said. “You’re never going to know how good you are until you face a top team, and then that’s when you see your struggles and gaps and where you need to improve.
“We just got to keep getting better like coach says every day and then when we get to that good team we can be able to perform.”
So far Washington (2-0) hasn’t been tested.
The Huskies never trailed against Seattle U while nearly duplicating Saturday’s blowout performance in the opener, when they won 100-55 over Santa Clara.
They led 7-0 early and pushed the lead to 21-10 after the first quarter . It was 46-23 at halftime.
The Redhawks fought back in the third quarter, but were outscored 23-19 in the period and never got closer than 25 points.
“We didn’t get enough of our players to compete, and that was disappointing,” SU coach Joan Bonvicini said. “But the season is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Ashlyn Lewey scored 13 points and Jacinta Beckley scored 12 for Seattle U (1-2).
The Huskies held the Redhawks to 25.4 percent shooting from the field and forced 18 turnovers.
“Our group is clicking,” Neighbors said. “There’s a good little vibe about our team.”
Note
• UW sophomore Kelli Kingma missed a second straight game due to a concussion suffered weeks ago in practice. “She hasn’t had any progression yet,” Neighbors said. “Whenever she can come back, she will. … We’ll take it slow with her.”