The University of Arizona women’s basketball team (11-8, 2-4 in Big 12) lost to Kansas State University (18-1, 6-0 in Big 12) on the road in Bramlage Coliseum 62-47 on Thursday, Jan. 16. Despite a valiant effort from Arizona, their losing streak has now reached three games in a row.
Isis Beh led the team with 16 points and six made free throws on seven attempts from the charity stripe. The senior forward also secured six rebounds and three steals. Jada Williams, the sophomore guard followed suit with 11 points, four rebounds and one steal.
Arizona struggled early in the first quarter after Kansas State jumped out to an 8-0 lead before Beh put UA on the board with a layup more than halfway through the period. Arizona cut the deficit to 14-10 to close the opening ten minutes of the game with momentum going into the second quarter.
Arizona was down six at the start of the second period until Williams drained a three-pointer to cut the K-State lead to three. Williams played all ten minutes of the period and scored five points, totaling nine first-half points.
Arizona struggled to shoot from the field to close out the first half, as K-State extended its lead to 36-25 going into the break. Arizona shot 29 percent in the first 20 minutes, with sophomore Breya Cunningham only scoring 2 points, going 1-7 from the floor.
To start the second half Arizona came out firing on all cylinders. The team shot 46.7 percent from the field, with Beh and Cunningham leading the way with 6 points each in the period. Cunningham shot 50% in the quarter while bringing in 4 rebounds and two steals.
Arizona would go on to outscore K-State 16-11 in the third quarter with 8 of those points coming from inside the paint.
With the Kansas State lead down to 6 points heading into the final ten minutes of regulation, Arizona had tons of momentum to pull off the upset. However, K-State would open the final quarter on a 10-0 scoring run extending the lead to 57-41.
Cunningham would finish with 8 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and four steals before fouling out of the game near the end of the fourth.
The K-State scoring run would be too much for Arizona to overcome, as KSU senior guard Serena Sundell put the game out of reach for UA by converting a layup. Despite the crushing defeat, Arizona outscored K-State in points in the paint 28-20 and held Kansas State to a season-low 62 points.
Looking Ahead
Arizona looks to bounce back in the win column against Kansas University on Sunday, Jan. 19 at 1 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse as the Wildcats strive to end their losing woes.
Follow the Daily Wildcat on Instagram and Twitter/X
