The Arizona women’s basketball team will be without one of its twin centers, Beatrice Bofia, for a short period of time after she suffered a sprain in her leg in last night’s annual Red-Blue Game.
UA head coach Joan Bonvicini said it is too early to tell how long the 6-foot-7 junior transfer will be out, but doctors have already ruled out a torn ACL, which would be far more severe, saying it’s a lateral ligament sprain.
“”I was a little nervous when I saw her go down,”” Bonvicini said. “”I think she was more nervous than anything. It scared her.””
Bofia hobbled off the court under her own power after she fell awkwardly coming down from a rebound attampet but didn’t come back in the game.
“”We’re going to sit her out and get her well,”” Bonvicini said. “”We have about two weeks to get ready, and the important thing is we get her back to 100 percent. Hopefully she’ll be back soon.””
Even without Bofia, there was plenty of offense from the Red Team, which mustered up 100 points in a lopsided, 100-61 win.
The standout performance of the night came from sophomore guard Kelsey Burns, who at one point was successful on five straight 3-point attempts.
“”We have about two weeks to get ready, and the important thing is we get (Bofia) back to 100 percent. Hopefully, she’ll be back soon.””
– Joan Bonvicini,
UA head coach
Burns led the way from beyond the arc, finishing the night 6-for-7 on 3s, for 20 points. The Red Team finished 14-for-24 on 3-point attempts.
Bonvicini said she talked with Burns before the game and told her she needed to get 15 points, and if she got 20, she would take her out to breakfast.
“”I don’t think she had any at halftime,”” Bonvicini said. “”We were threatening her scholarship or something, but she got better in the second half.””
Burns said she enjoyed playing the game, and the significance of the bet made her night a bit more interesting.
“”It was good,”” Burns said. “”It’s something to work towards, and it was a good challenge. It was kind of fun, too.””
Her last 3-point attempt of the game was good, totaling her team’s 100 points on the night.
Another impressive performance came from junior guard Ashley Whisonant, who had 23 points and shot 10-for-15 overall. She also finished second for both teams with five assists.
“”Ashley had some great assists, but she scored well herself,”” Bonvicini said.
Whisonant said that she was excited for the new chapter in her college career and came out ready to play.
“”I was having a very excited feeling to get out there,”” Whisonant said. “”We’ve been practicing for a while, so to actually get out there and play in an actual game setting was fun.””
Bonvicini switched her players at halftime and rotated the men from the team’s practice squad frequently. For the majority of the game, there was a maximum of three men on the court, but for two of the last four minutes of the game, it was the men against the women.
Bonvicini was happy about her team’s performance overall, including the play freshman twin forwards Rheya and Rhaya Neabors.
“”They’re going to get better every game they play because they’re just solid,”” Bonvicini said. “”They don’t make a lot of mistakes.””
Playing for separate teams, the duo would have been easily confused had they been on the same team. They guarded each other on defense and made similar contributions on offense, with Rhaya scoring three points in 11 minutes and Rheya scoring six in 29 minutes.
Bonvicini also applauded the play of her senior guard Joy Hollingsworth, specifically how she teamed with Whisonant, among other things
“”There were a number of good things I liked,”” she said. “”I thought a lot of the players got better as the game went on.””