With two wins already secured to begin the 2026-27 season, the No. 15 Washington Huskies return to Alaska Airlines Arena on Thursday to host Cal State Bakersfield for the first time in seven years.

UW has dominated the glass behind second-year forward Brynn McGaughy and third-year center Tilda Trygger, who have pulled down 21 rebounds apiece over the first two games against UC San Diego and Pacific. Most of their success on the boards has been on the defensive end, with the 6-foot-3 McGaughy securing a Big Ten-leading 15 defensive rebounds, one more than Trygger, a transfer addition from North Carolina State.

The Huskies' front-court duo must maintain their early success Thursday with first-year forward Elizabeth Johnson, a 6-foot-1 Santa Maria, California native, fresh off a resounding 15-rebound game in her college debut last Tuesday to lead CSU Bakersfield to a 75-46 win over Stanislaus State.

Her total outperformed all five Roadrunners starters, who combined for 14 rebounds in the 29-point victory, in addition to scoring a team-high 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor. Her 15 rebounds put Johnson tied for No. 3 in the country with Colgate veteran guard/forward Ella Meabon entering Thursday, although the average is skewed slightly with just one game played this season.

UW should have the advantage in three-point shooting, with veteran guards Avery Howell and Sayvia Sellers combining to hit 12-of-29 shots from deep over the first two games of the season. CSU Bakersfield shot 4-of-14 from behind the arc in their season opener, instead relying on turning 25 turnovers—including 16 steals—into 34 points, one area UW will have to focus on, with the team already having 34 turnovers over its first two games.

The Huskies' only prior game against the Roadrunners came back in the 2019-20 season opener, an 80-49 victory under ex-coach Jody Wynn, which saw sophomore forward Haley Van Dyke lead the way with a team-high 15 points for at the time a second consecutive win in UW's season opener. Since then, the program has extended the streak to nine straight wins to begin the season, dating back to the 2018-19 season.

Since taking over for Wynn in 2021-22, when Langley lost her third game as the UW women's coach to then-No. 10 Louisville 61-53 at Alaska Airlines Arena, the program has never won fewer than four consecutive games to start the season, and Thursday is expected to be no different as the team looks to build on its unbeaten run as one of the top teams in the country.