By SEATTLE — The No. 16 Washington Huskies women's basketball team is 3-0 through their first games of the season and set to hit the road for the first time this year. They'll make the 285-mile cross-stat drive to play the Washington State Cougars at 7:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Wash.
Through the first three games of the season, the Huskies have looked to have taken the expected step forward from last season, where it advanced to the Round of 32 before falling in overtime to the TCU Horned Frogs, who advanced to the Elite Eight.
Through the first three games of the season, Washington has won each game by at least 16 points. It's latest victory was an 85-51 result against the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners on Thursday, which saw Washington score a program-record 35 points in the first quarter.
Throughout the team's first three games of the season, the team's returning all-conference honorees from last year have been front-and-center, which includes junior guard Avery Howell.
Howell transferred to the Huskies last year after spending her freshman year with the Southern California (USC) Trojans and significantly improved from Year 1 to Year 2. She finished her sophomore year having averaged 14.2 points on 50.8% shooting from the floor (43.1% from 3-point range) across 33 games (all starts). She also averaged 8.3 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 assists per game. All of those stats were upticks from her freshman year, where she averaged 7.5 points on 43.1% shooting (39.9% from beyond the arc), three rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.8 steals.
Howell's jump in her sophomore year was recognized. She was named All-Big Ten honorable mention and entered the season on the preseason watchlist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award for the best shooting guard of the year, and the Naismith Player of the Year award. She was on the POY award watchlist with her teammate, senior guard Sayvia Sellers.
So far, Howell has exceeded those expectations. She's scored at least 15 points in all three games this season and has averaged 19.3 points on 57.1% shooting (54.2% from 3-point range). She's also averaged six rebounds, 1.7 assists and one steal per game.
Howell had a team-high 21 points in the team's win against the Roadrunners and missed just two shots on nine attempts from the field.
Avery Howell tonight:
• 21 points
• 4 rebounds
• 2 assists
• 6/8 3PM
• 7/9 FG
• 22 minutes played pic.twitter.com/zS9pJv3Hxk— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) November 13, 2026
In addition to maintaining her perimeter defense and efficiency as a shooter, Howell has also stepped into a facilitating role on several occasions.
"In the offseason, I worked a lot on playmaking," Howell said in a postgame interview Thursday at Alaska Airlines Arena. "Just trying to be consistent for multiple levels. I'm really trying to set up my teammates and get everyone involved. Having good court vision, being able to see the post players. Obviously, we have a lot of really good bigs this year, so that's definitely an emphasis. But then, also being able to score from three levels, playing with a good place. Definitely defensively, I think that's a huge part of my game, as well. I want to set the tone defensively, get the boards."
Washington's roster is arguably the best it's been in its seventh season under head coach Tina Langley, and Howell will continue to be one of the featured players on it as the season progresses.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/avery-howell-continuing-bring-game-073221055.html
