The University of Arizona women’s basketball team (11-14, 2-12 in Big 12) fell short 75-69 in overtime on Saturday, Feb. 14 at noon against ASU (21-6, 8-6 in Big 12) in McKale Center at ALKEME Arena. This is the Wildcats’ third consecutive loss.
Arizona key players
The leading scorer for the Wildcats was graduate student guard Noelani Cornfield. Cornfield’s Saturday ended with a career high of 24 points on 9-for-23 shooting. She also managed to collect four rebounds and six assists. Cornfield had some great shots throughout the game, as if she had a response for every time that ASU seemed to be pulling away. She had a great game overall and kept Arizona in the game until the end.
Next, there was junior guard Sumayah Sugapong, who ended the night with 23 points on 7-for-18 shooting, four rebounds and three assists. Sugapong had a great night hitting three 3-pointers in the game as well as the shot that tied things for Arizona late in the fourth quarter.
ASU key players
For Arizona State, it was junior forward McKinna Brackens who led the way with 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting to go with seven rebounds and four assists. She was a force in the paint and got to the free-throw line shooting 7-for-10.
There was also graduate student guard Gabby Elliott who had 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting to go along with two rebounds and two assists. She had a great night shooting 3-pointers as she made four 3s overall including one that gave them the lead late in overtime.
First half
The first quarter saw the Wildcats take a 4-point lead, 17-13. The game started off fast, but slowed down near the 6 minute mark as both teams went scoreless for 2 minutes. The quarter ended with a 3-pointer from junior Deborah Davenport that looked like it could be on the start of a close game.
The quarter was close throughout, with neither team getting a lead larger than four points. With the score being 30-30 at halftime, it had the fans in McKale Center in excitement for the second half.
Second half
The third quarter went pretty similar, as ASU took a 3-point lead into the fourth with the score of 52-49. ASU had the biggest lead of the quarter with 5 points, but they weren’t able to sustain it heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was close until the 5 minute mark, when ASU took a 6-point lead. Following this, the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run to take a 61-57 lead with 43 seconds remaining. However, it was another ASU counterpunch as Elliott hit a pair of free throws followed by Brackens hitting the game-tying shot with three seconds left.
In overtime, the game was neck and neck until the point of Elliott hitting the 3-pointer with 2 minutes left that would ultimately end up sealing the game for them.
Despite career nights from Cornfield and Sugapong and a late fourth quarter run that nearly sealed the win, Arizona couldn’t close it out and fell 75-69 in overtime to the Sun Devils. Arizona showed resilience all afternoon and answered nearly every ASU punch, but key shots and free throws in overtime proved to be the difference. It was a hard-fought rivalry game that slipped away late, leaving the Wildcats searching for a way to turn competitive performances into conference wins.
Looking forward
The Wildcats will look to bounce back as the University of Colorado Boulder comes to the McKale Center on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. The game is also available on ESPN+.
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