SEATTLE — The No. 25 Washington Huskies women's basketball team took care of business in its latest Big Ten game against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Jan. 21 at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Washington beat Penn State 81-65 to improve to 15-4 overall this season and 5-3 in Big Ten competition.

The Huskies have won three-straight games. That stretch was an impressive response following two of the most disappointing losses of the season.

Washington lost to the No. 13 Michigan State Spartans 82-67 on Jan. 8 and followed that loss with a 78-72 overtime stumble against the Purdue Boilermakers on Jan. 11.

The loss against Purdue particularly stung. The Boilermakers are 10-9 overall this year and 2-6 in Big Ten competition.

Rather than let the two losses derail a promising season, the Huskies have buckled down and have build some momentum going into the latter half of their schedule, which features games against several Top 25 teams.

"The first thing that comes to my mind is just accountability," Head coach Tina Langley said in a postgame interview Jan. 21. "I think when we're accountable, we grow fast. And I think this team, after the game at Purdue, we were just very accountable. We came in really ready to learn and turn a page and quickly move forward but not ignore what we needed to be better tat. I think that's when you see growth happens pretty quickly. That's the character in the room. This group of women are high-character women. I'm excited to see how much better we can keep getting."

Washington will have an opportunity to extend its win streak to four games in a road game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 11 a.m. PT on Jan. 25 in Piscataway, N.J.

After that game, the Huskies will go head-first into a gauntlet of top-flight teams.

Washington will play No. 15 Maryland on the road Jan. 28, Illinois (which received votes) at home Feb. 1, No. 12 Ohio State at home Feb. 5, No. 10 Iowa on the road Feb. 11, No. 3 UCLA on the road Feb. 19 and No. 24 Nebraska at home Feb. 22.

The Huskies made their first NCAA Tournament last year for the first time since 2017. If they manage to go through their tougher competition with a winning record, they could make the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2016-17.

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