No. 1 Stanford 77, No. 9 Arizona 46
The road came to an end in Los Angeles as the Arizona women’s basketball team was knocked out of the Pacific 10 Conference Tournament by the Stanford Cardinal on Friday.
The Wildcats followed a pattern in the tournament. They started in the ninth seed, and played against Washington State, had the exact same record in.
Like in past years, the Wildcat won their first round game, defeating the Cougars 79-72. Then they met No. 1 seed Stanford in the second round. And again, Stanford was the end of the road for Arizona in the Pac-10 Tournament, and the season.
Arizona lost 77-46 in the Galen Center.
Stanford took the lead early in the second round match against the Wildcats (12-19), opening up a 12-3 lead 6 minutes into the first half.
“”They knocked down shots no matter what defense we were in all night,”” said head coach Niya Butts. “”When you allow 17 offensive rebounds and let them shoot at that high of a percentage, it’s going to be tough to get a win.””
Arizona’s defense failed to suppress the Cardinal offense throughout the rest of the first half. They added a 12-0 run as the first half came to an end.
Arizona’s offense was stifled by its inability to get the ball to the post players. This forced the Wildcats to rely on their shooting guards to get the job done. Arizona only shot 32.1 percent from the field, a meager offensive showing from the Wildcats. Only two Wildcats, Courtney Clements and Ashley Frazier, scored in double figures.
“”When we got the ball in the post, they doubled down and came over with the trap,”” Butts said. “”It took us too long in setting up our offense and getting into our sets.””
Arizona’s leading scorer, Ify Ibekwe, was unable to convert for the Wildcats, and only scored 5 points after being limited by foul trouble throughout the game. She only saw 29 minutes in the game.
All three seniors played for the Wildcats. In their final game of their college career, Amina Njonkou scored 2 points while Beatrice Bofia added 4. Sarah Hays started the game but did not score.
The Wildcats attempted to switch up the defense throughout the game keep the Cardinal on their toes. But whatever defense Arizona brought to the court, Stanford had an answer for. The Cardinal had four players in double figures, and received contribution from its bench. They shot 48 percent from the field for the game.
“”We went man-to-man and they got layups out of it,”” Butts said. “”We couldn’t stop them in either defense.””
Added Clements: “”When a team is shooting that well, it can get hard to get past it. We have been in games where that has happened before and we came back. I thought (Friday) we beat ourselves a lot more.””