Arizona women’s basketball continued its strong play in the non-conference schedule, extending its winning streak to four Tuesday night with an 84-42 win over the University of Incarnate Word in McKale Center.
In what could be considered a sluggish first half offensively, the ‘Cats shot 17-39 from the field, but held Incarnate Word to 9-27 shooting, and found themselves up 15 points at the halftime buzzer.
Junior guard Lucia Alonso was on fire in the first half, scoring 14 points and going 5-8 from the field. She started the game 4-4 from 3-point range.
“It was good to see her come out of her shell,” head coach Adia Barnes said of Alonso’s performance. “That’s the Lucia I see every day in practice.”
In the second half, the Wildcats widened their lead on UIW. Defense lead to offense for the ‘Cats as they got 14 points off of UIW turnovers, outscoring the Cardinals 41-19 in the second half. For the game, Incarnate Word had 25 turnovers, its most this season.
Redshirt sophomore Aari McDonald didn’t have her best night shooting, going 1-6 from three and 7-19 overall, but wound up with 24 points.
“I would say what worked for me was just keep attacking and just stay aggressive on the defensive and offensive end,” McDonald said.
“Aari just does so many things that make us better,” Barnes added. “As you saw in the second quarter, when she’s out of the game, we kind of struggle.”
When asked what the mindset was when facing a team who, coming into the game, was 0-6, McDonald said that the mindset was the same as any game:
“Take no prisoners,” she said.
Freshman Cate Reese notched a double-double for the second time in as many games, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 boards. For Reese, it’s her third double-double of the season.
“Reese is just aggressive, and that’s one of the things that makes her so good,” Barnes said. “So I don’t want to take that away, but it’s learning now to take shots on balance and finish stronger, and not fall every time.”
Next up for the Wildcats (5-1) is a road trip to California. They’ll head to San Diego for a game against San Diego State University on Sunday, Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. MST.
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