In a game wherein redshirt sophomore Aari McDonald passed her head coach to become Arizona women’s basketball’s new single-season scoring leader, the Wildcats suffered a tough loss, losing to California 82-76 in overtime.
After leading by as many as 20 points, the ‘Cats lost, dropping to 17-10 and 7-9 in conference, putting their NCAA Tournament hopes in serious jeopardy.
The Wildcats went into the halftime locker room leading 32-17, thanks to a dominant second quarter where they outscored the Golden Bears 17-4.
Arizona still lead after three quarters, but in the fourth, Cal seemed to come alive, and after two 5-0 runs got the Bears to within three with five minutes to go, a 3 from Recee Caldwell with 17 seconds left would tie the game up at 62-62.
After both teams went 1-2 from the free-throw stripe, the contest was headed into overtime.
Both teams would go back and forth in overtime, until a 3 from McKenzie Forbes put Cal up 76-74 with 1:05 left. A Cal free throw put the Bears up by three, a lead they would not give up.
McDonald finished with 31 points, adding seven assists and four rebounds in a game much like the previous one against Stanford. She never went to the bench, playing all 45 minutes. She passed her coach, Adia Barnes, for the most points in a single season in Arizona history. She now eclipsing the 653 Barnes scored in 1998.
Senior Tee Tee Starks and sophomore Sam Thomas both played 43 minutes, finishing with 12 and 13 points, respectively.
No player on the Wildcats had more than the eight rebounds freshman Cate Reese had. For Cal, senior Kristine Anigwe had 20 boards, along with 16 points.
In a weekend where a win would have been important for the postseason push, the Wildcats dropped both of their games in heartbreaking fashion. McDonald had a potential game-winner vs. Stanford go in and out of the rim as time expired on Friday’s game. UA now looks ahead to next weekend, when they will finish off their regular season against the Oregon schools.
First, they will play the No. 2 Oregon Ducks at 8 p.m. Friday, March 1, before taking on No. 12 Oregon State at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 3.
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