The feeling was all too familiar for the Arizona women’s basketball team last night in Palo Alto, Calif.
For the second time this season, the Wildcats (9-15, 3-10 Pacific 10 Conference) were dominated by a powerful No. 8 Stanford team 69-46. The 23 point loss was eerily reminiscent to the 25 point loss Arizona suffered in its first go with the Cardinal.
Rebounding and overall strong play in the post led Stanford (23-3, 12-2) to their 11th straight win.
Stanford “”is a smart team,”” head coach Joan Bonvicini said. “”There’s a significant difference between Stanford and other teams in the conference.
“”This is a game we need to learn from and then forget about, we can play better than we did tonight.””
Throughout the game, Arizona simply struggled take advantage of opportunities. With Stanford shooting a surprisingly low 20.7 percent from three-point range, Arizona managed to shoot even worse, going 0-7 from behind the arc.
The most noticeable factors missing for the Wildcats were guard Ashley Whisonant and forward Rheya Neabors who both lead the team in shooting from three-point land.
“”We had a really tough time getting in and offensive flow,”” Bonvicini said. “”Stanford played very good defense all night long on both (Whisonant and Neabors) which made it difficult for us to get something going offensively.””