Arizona women’s basketball team fell to 10-8 and 1-6 in conference play as they were defeated 80-69 by the University of Kansas (12-8, 2-6 in Big 12) on Tuesday, Jan. 20. The Wildcats were plagued by foul calls as they ended the night with 29 total fouls as a team. 

Key players

The lead scorer for the Wildcats was junior guard Sumayah Sugapong as she put up 17 points alongside six rebounds and four assists. She ultimately ended up fouling out in the fourth quarter. She helped push the floor in transition and cause turnovers, which helped swing the momentum for the Wildcats. 

Sophomore guard Kamryn Kitchen followed Sugapong for Arizona recording 16 points on 6-11 shooting and 4-8 from the 3-point line.

Kansas was led by freshman guard Jaliya Davis as she ended the game with 25 points, eight rebounds and three assists. 

Junior guard S’Mya Nichols was the next leading scorer for the Jayhawks ending the night with 18 points, three rebounds and three assists. Nichols did a great job at getting to the free throw line; she ended the night 10-12 from the stripe while stretching the floor by going 2-4 from the 3-point line.

First half 

The first quarter ended with Kansas taking an early lead, 27-21. The game started off great for the Wildcats as they turned two turnovers into 4 points. However, Arizona also gave up 9 points from the 3-point line. Jaliya Davis scored 10-point in the first quarter which brought the Jayhawks into the lead.

In the second quarter, the Wildcats had three offensive fouls, on top of the five defensive fouls they gained on the defensive side of the ball. Additionally, the Jayhawks hit two 3-pointers which had the Wildcats on the ropes to start the second half. As they headed into halftime, The Jayhawks doubled their lead as 44-32.

Second half

The Wildcats cut their deficit to 4 points in the third quarter. Throughout the duration of the quarter, the Wildcats picked up eight fouls including back-to-back fouls on junior center Achol Magot in the span of 28 seconds. Nevertheless, the Wildcats continued to push as they were not out of this game yet with the score being 59-55. 

The fourth quarter saw the highs and lows of the Wildcats, as they had cut the Jayhawks lead to only 3 points. They managed to collect 11 fouls which plagued them throughout the quarter and lead them to lose the game 80-69. 

Despite the loss, Arizona learned a lot through this game. Arizona head coach Becky Burke spoke post-game about the heart that her team demonstrated throughout the night; “It’s positive to see our maturity … try to keep them focused on forward instead of what we can do about poor calls”. 

Looking forward

Arizona is looking to snap out of this losing streak as they head to Ames, IA to take on Iowa State University in the Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 2 p.m. The game is available on FS1 for fans to watch while the Wildcats are on the road. 

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