It was a topsy-turvy weekend for Arizona women’s basketball during their Washington swing, splitting the road trip in dramatically different ways.
On Friday the Wildcats lost 91-55 to host No. 10 Washington Friday night.
By the end of the first half, the Huskies out-rebounded Arizona 23-14. Washington went on 24-4 and 21-0 scoring runs, which put the host Huskies up 51-20 at halftime. Washington outscored Arizona 30-4 in the second quarter alone.
It was also Arizona head coach Adia Barnes’ first visit to campus since leaving for Arizona.
“It was interesting because I’d never been to the visitors locker room,” Barnes said. “A lot of love there, so many friends there … they gave Lex [Arizona Graduate Student manager and former Washington Husky Alexus Atchley] and I a standing ovation, so that was nice. The hardest thing for me was that we played so bad.”
Arizona senior LaBrittany Jones had 18 points, five rebounds and three assists in the game, but the leading scorer from Washington, Kelsey Plum, was unstoppable with 22 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
Turnovers again proved to be an issue for Arizona. The Huskies scored 17 points off of Arizona’s 11 turnovers.
The turnovers continue to haunt the team, however, against Washington State the Wildcats would be able to overcome the self-inflicting wounds in a win on the road, despite incurring 25 of them.
The Arizona women’s basketball team beat host Washington State 70-62 Sunday, putting an end to their seven-game losing streak.
The Wildcats were a little sloppy. Washington State scored 6 points off of four Arizona turnovers in the first three minutes of the game.
The Wildcats somehow found a way to stay close despite the early deficit, and by the third quarter, Arizona was back in the game.
Senior Malena Washington drained a 3-point shot to tie the game midway through the third, helping Arizona outscore the Cougars 21-14.
Senior LaBrittney Jones had 22 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in the game and was sound down the stretch in key moments. Jones’ performance Sunday resulted in several moves up the all-time lists in school history. Jones moved past Elizabeth Pickney for third in all-time blocks, passed up Kim Conway and Krista Warren to move to eighth in all-time rebounds and passed Natalie Jones for 14th on the all-time scoring list.
“It’s just a great feeling to be a senior and be able to be in the record books late in the year and leaving my legacy here at Arizona,” Jones said. “It’s been tough coming here not having winning seasons, but I’ve grown so much as a player and an individual outside of basketball, and I think I’ve done that here at Arizona.”
Malena Washington scored 13 of her 21 points in the first seven minutes of the third quarter, compared to the 11 Washington State had as a team in that same time.
Washington, Jones and the 11 rebounds of senior forward Dezja James were the reason the Wildcats could overcome 25 team turnovers, the Achilles heel this season.
Turnovers made this game much harder for Arizona; the Wildcats had more turnovers than points in the first quarter, which contributed to their large deficit. Washington State scored 25 points off of 25 turnovers in the game, compared to Arizona only scoring 15 points off of 16 turnovers.
“In the first half they had like 20 points off of turnovers, I was like I can’t believe we’re not down by 30 at that point,” Barnes said. “We were still able to find other ways and that’s why I was so proud of this team.”
Arizona moves to 12-13 on the season after securing their third Pac-12 win of the year, two more regular season wins than a year ago.
The Wildcats will be back in McKale Center on Friday, Feb. 17, to take on their rival ASU and then travel to Tempe to face ASU on Sunday in a rare back-to-back set of matchups for both programs. Tip-off for Friday is set for 7 p.m. MST.
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