SEATTLE - Most thought the blowouts and embarrassing losses were done at Washington once football ended.

Then the Washington women's basketball team reached possibly its lowest point last weekend, only two years after a trip to the NCAA tournament.

The Huskies were routed by No. 9 Stanford 112-35 on Thursday and then were overwhelmed by No. 11 California 62-34 three days later. The 77-point loss to the Cardinal was the worst in Pac-10 history, and the Huskies followed up with a 28-point setback against California, where the Huskies scored just nine points in the first half.

The two blowouts came just three weeks after the Huskies (5-8, 1-2 Pac-10) were blown out by 58 against No. 1 Connecticut at a tournament in Cancun, Mexico.

Former athletic director Todd Turner fired successful, longtime coach June Daugherty after the 2006 season because Turner believed the program lacked "buzz," and replaced her with first-time head coach Tia Jackson.

Certainly, this type of buzz generated by the recent blowout losses is not what the university envisioned from Jackson's team.

"No one wants to lose by almost 80. I'm not the first to say that's embarrassing," Washington senior Michelle Augustavo said.

The rough trip to the Bay Area only adds to some increasing criticism of Jackson's effort in getting Washington back to being among the upper half teams of the Pac-10.

There's been significant player turnover with four players leaving at some point during Jackson's first season. Last year's leading scorer, Katelan Redmond, left for Gonzaga, while talented New Zealand center Jess McCormack transferred to Connecticut. Two others -- Kali Bennett and Candice Nichols -- also left during the 2007-08 season. All four had committed before Daugherty was fired.

The amount of roster fluctuations, the lack of instant success and the recent blowouts have only increased some fan displeasure in Jackson's plan, who is 18-26 entering this week's homestand against Oregon and Oregon State.

Jackson's response: keep everything in perspective.

"I think keep it in the right place, because this program is going exactly in the direction we want it to go in," Jackson said on Tuesday. "It's still in great hands. We've got a team that is getting healthy. We're going in a run right now, a little stretch, that despite what people believe has a great feeling about where we're headed. That's a credit to my staff and our kids in keeping their mental stability. I think we're just fine."

The numbers during the Bay Area trip were almost too dismal to revisit, even though Washington played without freshman standout Kristi Kingma for both games and without two others against Stanford. The Huskies shot just 21 percent against Stanford and only 22 percent against California. They trailed a combined 94-24 at halftime of the two games and were outrebounded 100-53.

As Augustavo said, "we were on national television for the wrong reasons."

Yet Jackson isn't concerned about national perception, even for those that only look at the box scores and wonder how a team that two years ago reached the NCAA tournament can have six of its eight losses by 10 or more points.

"I know how to keep it in the right perspective. I know where we're trying to go. I know we're heading in the right direction," Jackson said. "I know there are a lot of lessons that can be taken from (those losses) and I think if you're only focused on that you're missing the big picture of the game. ... The wins and losses are important but we've got a team that's got to learn a lot about the sport and the game."

Making the current situation even more difficult for Washington supporters to accept is the Huskies highly successful history. Washington went to the NCAA tournament 10 straight seasons between 1985 and 1995, and went another six times between 1997 and 2007 with Daugherty as head coach. In 2001, the Huskies reached the regional finals before losing to Southwest Missouri State.

Still, despite the blowout losses, the administration is standing behind Jackson.

"I'm concerned about it, but Tia is a young coach with a young team and we're going to be patient with her and support her," current Washington athletic director Scott Woodward said. "Hopefully things will turn around."