Top Husky Takeaways From Washington Women’s Basketball’s Home Win Over Montana on November 10th, 2025
By Rowan Schaberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - The Washington Huskies cruised to another large-margin win on their home court Monday night, defeating Montana 87-56. The Lady Griz handed the Huskies their first loss last year, but Washington came back with a vengeance to move to 2-0 on the season.
Earlier in the day, it was announced that Washington was ranked No. 25 in the AP Top 25 Poll this week. The Huskies were last ranked on December 18th, 2023.
The Washington Husky women’s basketball team came out for warm ups ahead of their home win against Montana wearing black shirts with an orange ribbon in the center that had the initials “MH” for women’s soccer goalkeeper Mia Hamant, who passed over the weekend. (Photos by Dylan Nguyen for Circling Seattle Sports)
Washington was led yet again by junior guard Sayvia Sellers, who this week added the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List to her growing resume of accolades in addition to her Preseason All-Big Ten Team selection. The 5-foot-7 guard contributed 19 points to the win in just 18 minutes on the floor.
While the final score may seemingly tell a similar story to the 90-43 defeat of Seattle U in their season opener, this match provided a better glimpse into both potential cracks in the Husky offense and a glimmer of hope amid ongoing post play concerns.
Coming off a perfect game in her Washington debut, sophomore transfer Avery Howell struggled with her offensive production against Montana. In 21 minutes, Howell recorded five points, shooting 1-for-6 from the field and 1-for-4 from beyond the arc – a far cry from her 18-point, 4-for-4 field goals, 5-for-5 three-point performance against Seattle U. Her eight rebounds and zero turnovers managed to earn her a team-high plus-24 rating – a testament to her ability to be more than just a spot-up shooter like she often was at USC – but her shooting efficiency will be key as Washington’s schedule progresses in difficulty, especially if Elle Ladine continues to be sidelined with an undisclosed injury.
Frames of Washington Husky guards Sienna Harvey (#35) and Avery Howell (#2) during the teams blowout home win over the Montana Lady Griz on Monday, November 10th at Alaska Airlines Arena. (Photos by Dylan Nguyen for Circling Seattle Sports)
Similarly to Howell, the other newcomer who had a breakout game in the season opener also struggled against the Lady Griz. Sienna Harvey, the freshman out of Australia, had nine points on Monday – which may not seem like a negative upon first glance, but the extended box score tells a different story. Harvey shot 2-for-14 from the field – more field-goal attempts than any other player on either roster – and 1-4 from three, making for a staggeringly inefficient performance. Harvey had a comparatively high number of field-goal attempts against Seattle U, as well, but was able to get her shots to fall a bit better. If Harvey can contribute double-digit scoring on these high field-goal attempt numbers as the season goes on, they might not be a problem, but it is definitely something to keep in mind as the offense starts to form more of an identity.
While Howell and Harvey had their newcomer time to shine, this Monday belonged to Yulia Grabovskaia and Brynn McGaughy in the paint. The thought-to-be new post duo were a bit of an unknown heading into the season with Grabovskaia having barely played at her previous school and McGaughy making the jump from high school to college hoops. The pair had four points each in their premiere game, but truly found their groove against Montana while sticking to their unique playing styles.
Grabovskaia put on a masterclass of fundamental, traditional post play to tie her career-high in scoring. All 14 of her points came from directly under the basket – leveraging her two-inch height advantage over Montana’s tallest player for an easy layup. Her performance was reminiscent of a classic center that isn’t often seen in this era of position-less basketball being the norm. With such a strong offensive guard presence in Ladine, Sellers, Howell, Hannah Stines, and even Devin Coppinger and Chloe Briggs off the bench, having an anchor in the low post who doesn’t drift outside of the paint is the perfect fit. Keeping her confidence level up despite more challenging post matchups in the future will be important to her continued success offensively.
“Me and Yulia [Grabovskaia], she’s my post, so we have a good connection so far and it’s been getting a lot better,” Sellers said, reflecting on their guard/post relationship generating second chance opportunities on offense. “We try to push pace. We’re still learning how to play off each other, but I thought today was really good for both of us. She got me quite a few assists just ducking in and trying to bury her player. I think just trying to push the pace as much as we can and then being able to flow in offense smoothly.”
Washington Husky freshman forward Brynn McGaughy during her teams blowout home win over the Montana Lady Griz on Monday, November 10th at Alaska Airlines Arena. (Photos by Dylan Nguyen for Circling Seattle Sports)
In a lovely contrast to Grabovskaia’s style, McGaughy used her acclaimed versatility to record her first – likely of many – double-digit collegiate scoring performance. While her shot chart is a bit sparse since four of her 12 points came from the charity stripe, it really is the perfect sample of what we will see from McGaughy as her Washington career grows: two layups right under the basket, one shot slightly outside the restricted area, and one jumper between the key and the three-point line. McGaughy confidently posted up on the block and drew a foul through a double-team for a picturesque and-1 that she successfully turned into a three-point play. Her shifty, strong, and confident playing style in the paint reminded me of former Husky Dalayah Daniels–even down to her ability to distribute in the high post.
“I was really excited to see her poise,” head coach Tina Langley said of McGaughy. “It looked like she was calm and confident. I love the way the team communicated. I think that she was able to play without overthinking. She just played the game and played it with a lot of joy.”
If her baseline level of confidence when being double-teamed or defended by a taller player is already this high only two games into her collegiate career, McGaughy has an incredibly bright future ahead of her in the purple and gold. Her early success was also recognized nationally this week with the announcement of McGaughy’s selection for the Tamika Catchings Award Watch List, composed of the top 20 freshmen in the nation.
“They add a lot of dimension,” Langley said of the post pair. “I love to see that we have a strong post presence. The way that they have focused on positioning and sealing and understanding how to put themselves in a position for success, it’s been a lot of hard work. I also think our guards are doing a lot of work early to make sure that they can get them the ball quickly, which I think is important as well, so it can add a lot of depth for us.”
Outside of individual performances, the Huskies as a whole had some stunning stats as a team. Washington scored 50 points in the paint compared to only eight from Montana – a team known to favor perimeter shooting. The Lady Griz attempted a whopping 40 three-pointers in the game but managed to connect on only 13. Washington was also able to keep Montana from getting any second chance points while recording 16 of their own. The Huskies also blew the Lady Griz out of the water on the glass with 60 rebounds compared to their 23.
The only statistical category in which Montana had a slight advantage was free-throws – an early concern across both of Washington’s first two games. The Huskies shot 63% from the charity stripe against the Lady Griz – a slight improvement from the 58% in the Seattle U game. Grabovskaia is currently the only member of the roster who has yet to miss a free-throw (Two). While this statistical category is important for all players to improve on, it will be especially important for Sellers and McGaughy, the two players we have seen driving to the basket and drawing fouls most so far. Sellers has been awarded five free-throw opportunities over the two games and has only made two, while McGaughy had seven opportunities against Montana and connected on four. As a team that lost to several highly ranked opponents by only a few points last season–and missed advancing to the next round of the NCAA Tournament by just three points–free throws could give them that slight edge to win in those close games.
Overall, there were mostly positive takeaways from this game – it’s hard to not have mainly positive thoughts after a 31-point win. However, early concerns of offensive consistency, shot selection, and free-throw success are definitely things to keep eyes on as the season continues.
Washington will face their first challenge this Saturday, taking on Utah on its home court at 1PM PST. The Utes defeated the Huskies by ten points at Alaska Airlines Arena last season, but their star Gianna Kneepkens–who led Utah with 24 points in the meeting last year–has since brought her talents to UCLA, leaving them with a bit less starpower, but they are still a threat to Washington’s undefeated record.
“They’re very talented,” Langley said of Utah. “They shoot the three incredibly well, share the ball, score at a high level. We gave up a lot of threes today, so that’s something we’re going to need to work on this week.”
What’s next?
Following tonight’s home win over the Montana Lady Griz, our Washington Husky women’s basketball heads out on the road for the first time this season in their next contest on the 2025-26 schedule. As previously mentioned, the Huskies will face a tough test early when they take on the Utah Utes on Saturday, November 15th with a tipoff time of 1PM PST in Salt Lake City, Utah that will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The Utes have started the season off 3-0, largely playing in state schools as they’re last two victories have come against Utah State and Utah Valley. Washington will look to improve it’s all-time head-to-head record against the Utah when these teams meet Saturday, as the Huskies trail 13-18, including a 4-9 record on the road. The Utes look dangerous as they’ve done exceedingly well at sharing the basketball (Posting 20 or more assists in every game so far this season) and have seen success from beyond the arc to begin the year.
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