The Arizona women’s basketball team fell just short against Stanford in the NCAA title game on Sunday, April 4, losing to the Cardinal 54-53. Our full recap can be found here.

Here are a few important stats from the game.

47

Stanford had their way with Arizona on the glass. They used their size advantage to out-muscle the Wildcats in every fashion. Stanford got nine of those rebounds on the offensive side. Lexie Hull led Stanford with 10 rebounds as well. The Wildcats by comparison only had 29 rebounds, with only five being on the offensive side. 

The Wildcats’ most tenacious rebounder in the game was Sam Thomas who finished with seven for the game. Stanford’s size was going to be an issue for Arizona the whole game, and it ended up being a huge difference in it.

28

Arizona struggled all game against the Stanford defense and finished with a total field goal percentage of 28% and going 17-60 overall. The size of Stanford was a major reason for this offensive performance. Arizona struggled to get anything consistent on the inside and ran into issues with Stanford’s frontcourt in the middle. 

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Aari McDonald also contributed to this because she struggled early on to get going and only started to get going consistently in the second half. Arizona also struggled from the three-point line by shooting 27% and only going 6-22. The size and defense of Stanford was too much for the Wildcats to consistently get shots to go in.

21

The biggest advantage Arizona had in the game was its defense. They got 12 steals off Stanford and forced the Cardinal into 21 total turnovers. The Wildcats also blocked the Cardinal twice in the game. The Wildcats still played their tenacious brand of defense and forced Stanford into shooting 27% from three-point range, and they also held Stanford to 42% overall, which wasn’t as good as they have been but was still an impressive showing. Arizona had been able to count on its defense this whole run, and it’s why this game was as close as it ended up being. 

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