Incoming Frosh Katie Collier, already a cancer survivor, recently tore her ACL and will miss this season. The 6-3 Collier is a McDonald’s All American and an outstanding prospect at Center and/or Power Forward. We all wish her the best and a full recovery.
Coach Kevin McGuff is in his 2nd year at Washington coming from Xavier. All three Assistants begin their 2nd year at Washington also.
Last season Washington was 20-14 overall and 8-10 in Conference play. However they did not play a top 35 or so team in non conference play. They did have league victories over UCLA and USC.
The Schedule: St Mary’s, San Diego State, Georgia Tech and Wisconsin are the tougher non conference foes. None should be top 35 teams although when polls come out in October we will review non conference schedules for all Pac 12 teams. Washington does not play at Stanford or Cal or at home against either Colorado or Utah. So definitely a scheduling break there.
Losses: Regina Rogers was the leading scorer and rebounder at 17 and 8.6 per game. She probably would have been replaced by Collier, now the post position has unknowns.
MacKenzie Argens was the 4th leading scorer, 7 points per game and 2nd in rebounds, 6.3 per game.
Mollie Williams was 5th in scoring, 5 points per game, and 3rd in rebounds, 5.5 per game.
Charmine Barlow scored 2 points per game and had 3.5 rebounds per game.
All five above graduated. Also gone are would be Soph Ashley Moore who transferred and did not play last year and Marjorie Heard who would have been a Jr. Heard played 12 games and started 1. Also Airashay Rogers was an incoming Frosh Guard and ranked # 116 but she is not eligible.
Returnees: There are 5 returnees who played at least 25 games, and one who played 8and four others who redshirted for a total of 10. The best of all returnees is 2010 All Pac 10 player Kristi Kingma. Kigma tore her ACL and missed the entire 2011-12 season. If you remember her great, I think 5 threes, against Stanford, you know how much Washington, or any team would miss her. Kristi scored 15.6 points per game 2 years ago, her most recent season. She is a 5-10 Guard and a 5th year Sr. She had 79 threes 2 years ago, at 41%, a school record and she has 139 threes in her career. Kingma will be an impact player.
Soph 5-7 Point Guard Jazmine Davis was the Pac 12 Frosh of the Year, scoring 15.7 points per game with 67 threes at 36%. Her assist to turnover ration was not good at all, but that will improve a lot with Kingma and her year of experience.
Mercedes Wetmore is a 5-8 Jr Guard who could play either Guard position. Wetmore was 3rd on the team in scoring at 7 points per game and had 27 threes although at
31%.
Kellie McCann-Smith is a 5-9 Jr Guard who spent her Frosh year at Nebraska. Kellie scored 4 points per game but did hit 33 threes at 35%.
Kassia Fortier is a 5-8 Jr Guard who has played just 18 games in 2 years.
Beatrice Carta is a 5-7 Redshirt Frosh Guard from Italy. She tore her ACL before arriving at Washington. In Europe Carta was the 4th best Guard in her age group. She was Captain of her National 18U team and scored 17 points in the European Championship Game.
Deborah Meeks is a 5-8 redshirt Frosh Guard who sat out last season after tearing her ACL as a Sr in High School.
Jeneva Anderson is a 6-0 Sr Forward who played in 25 games last season but only 7 minutes per game, which has been the same for all three of her seasons.
Talia Walton is a 6-2 Redshirt Frosh who missed last season with a non ACL knee injury. Walton was the # 32 Forward out of High School.
Aminah Williams is a 6-0 Soph Forward who averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds per game this past season.
Newcomers: First, as you read above, Washington will have 3 players playing for the first time as all missed their Frosh season with injuries. Then there are 3 true Frosh entering Washington from High School. Katie Collier would have been one of the top Frosh in the Pac 12 and maybe the nation. She’s a 6-3 Post who missed a third of her Sr season undergoing treatment for cancer. Then she returned and played very well in the McDonalds All Star game. Sadly she tore her ACL last month so a huge loss. She was ranked # 21 out of High School.
Heather Corral is a 6-1 Guard, as since Washington may play 3 or 4 Guards, Heather may play some at Forward. Corral twice tore her ACL in High School, but was healthy last season and scored 15 points per game. I saw her play several years ago and was very impressed. Heather is the sister of former USC star Ashley Corral.
Mathilde Gilling is a 6-3 Frosh Center from Denmark. She has played on their National team. She played this past summer with their 23U team, and in the past a starter for their 16U National team. Gilling has a brother who plays for ASU.
Outlook: Really with only 6 returning players, plus 4 who redshirted with injury, and 3 newcomers it’ll be an adjustment period and how long that lasts is anyone’s guess. If Gilling is good, then with the Huskies very good three point shooting and the return of Kingma the Huskies might challenge for the top 6. However without Collier that seems a stretch. It is great to have Kingma back and she will be tough for all Washington’s opponents.
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