The Arizona women’s basketball team’s dominant week earns them “Daily Wildcat Team of the Week” honors with wins over Oregon, Washington State and Washington, while Alejandro Reguant of the Arizona men’s tennis team earned himself “Daily Wildcat Player of the Week” honors with a dominating performance against New Mexico that led to him becoming the winningest singles player in school history.
DW Team of the Week: Arizona women’s basketball
After having four games postponed and not playing in a game for 16 days, the Wildcats tore through their conference opponents in their first week of action since Jan. 22, 2021.
Their first opponent was No. 11 Oregon, which is not exactly the first team you want to play after such an extended hiatus. It did not matter, however, as Arizona crushed one of the top teams in the country by a score of 79-59. The Wildcats outscored the Ducks in every quarter but one and had four players finish in double figures. Arizona also outscored Oregon in rebounds, assists and blocks. This win sent shockwaves throughout the entire conference, establishing that the Wildcats are the team to beat.
Next up was Washington State, and this game was personal. Back on Jan. 10, the Wildcats went into the fourth quarter with a nine-point lead. What should have been a routine close-out resulted in Arizona getting outscored 16-7 and being forced into OT, where they lost by two points. It was only their second loss, but it dropped them four spots in the AP poll and three in the coaches poll. This time, Arizona was ready. After a slow third quarter where the Wildcats saw themselves up only two going into the fourth, they did not let the lead slip away this time. They outscored the Cougars 16-9 in the fourth and went on to win 60-51. Revenge sure does taste sweet.
The last victim on Arizona’s list was Washington, and once the game was tipped off the Huskies stood no chance. Arizona outscored them in every quarter, grabbed more rebounds, dished out more assists, blocked more shots and had more steals. Basically, there was not a part of the game the Wildcats did not dominate, resulting in a 75-53 beatdown. To add injury to insult, seniors Aari McDonald and Sam Thomas each dropped 20 points each. That is nearly 75% of the total points that the entire Washington team scored.
One player who stood out during this incredible run was junior Cate Reese. Over these last three games, Reese averaged 18 points, 4.3 rebounds, shot 66% from three-point range and 53% from the field. I am sure Reese would attribute these stats to how well her team supports her, and that just shows that this team is solid both on and off the court. Not only are all these ladies absolute college stars, but soon many of them could be WNBA starts. Either way, the Pac- 12 was put on notice.
RELATED: Jada Talley leads the charge in the Arizona women’s soccer team’s win over New Mexico State
DW Player of the Week: Men’s tennis player Alejandro Reguant
Reguant’s historic performance earned him “Player of the Week.” It was a day of celebration as the Wildcats dominated the New Mexico State Aggies by a combined match score of 12-0.
They were led by the senior out of Spain, who on Feb. 14 broke the school record for most singles wins in program history! On top of that, he also broke the record for most spring wins in program history.
“I’m very happy,” Reguant told the Arizona men’s tennis Twitter account. “This team is extremely special. This team is my family, my second family and they’ve been with me every single moment and I’ve been with them every single moment through the good and the bad. I’m just very happy to come out here every day, work towards the goals that we have and look if I have to break records to get to help the team get to the place that we want to be, I’m more than happy to do so.”
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