The Arizona women’s basketball team just didn’t have an answer for No. 4 Stanford, which routed the Wildcats 91-61 behind senior guard Jeanette Pohlen’s 17 points.
Stanford (20-2, 11-0 Pacific 10 Conference) jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the game’s first three minutes — a stretch that saw the Wildcats shoot 0-of-4 and commit two turnovers.
Davellyn Whyte then hit a two-point jumper to get the Wildcats (13-9, 4-7 Pac-10) on the board, but that was the closest they got to Stanford for the remainder of Saturday afternoon. The Cardinal coasted to its 48th straight Pac-10 victory — tying its own record — and 19th straight over Arizona.
“”Stanford is probably the best team in the country,”” said Arizona head coach Niya Butts. “”They’re super efficient and beat you inside and outside. Half of their shot were 3s, half of their shots were 2s, and they shot about 50 percent from both of them.””
The loss was Arizona’s fourth straight, and the Wildcats have dropped seven of their last nine. Butts said that Arizona is still focused on what it can do to improve, and that includes playing its own brand of basketball.
“”We have to play Arizona basketball and continue to improve and grind and play physical,”” Butts said. “”We aren’t going to let this game affect us and how we play the rest of the season. We didn’t quit, we continued to play and compete.””
Senior forward Ify Ibekwe, who led Arizona with 19 points, said that she doesn’t see a difference between this year’s dominant Stanford team and some of the Cardinal’s teams in recent years.
“”They’re well coached and they still have the same system,”” Ibekwe said. “”There’s not much of a difference from now and any of my other years here, they have shooters inside and outside.””
Even though Arizona was out-rebounded 46-34, Butts said that she saw signs of progress after rebounding has been a concern all season.
“”We didn’t rebound particularly well,”” Butts said, “”but we were getting in better positions.””
The Wildcats don’t get another chance to snap their skid until next Sunday when they host rival ASU, which blew out Arizona 75-43 in their meeting earlier this year.
