After a rollercoaster of a 2023-2024 season ending with an early exit in the NCAA tournament to Syracuse University, Arizona women’s basketball will look to get back on track in the coming season in a new conference.
The team started 8-1 last year then went through five conference games that all came down to one possession loss. The team went 1-4 during that span, with two of the games going to overtime.
After huge wins against the University of Washington in triple overtime and a defeat against No. 3 Stanford University on the road, the Wildcats ended last season with a 17-15 record. Arizona went on to win the first games in the NCAA tournament, beating Auburn University 69-59 but then losing to Syracuse 74-69 in their second game of the tournament and ending their season short.
The biggest problem Arizona faced last season was the roster size. Between cutting people from the team and losing people to academics, Arizona’s line up went from small to smaller.
“If players don’t have an opportunity, they’re not gonna stay, so finding that balance gives the freshmen some experience so you can keep them on your roster and we needed more depth for sure [this season],” said head coach Adia Barnes.
The Wildcats have nine players returning to the team this season with three new players joining the squad. Four-star guard from New York Lauryn Swann, Serbian forward Katarina Knežević and Mailien Rolf, a guard from Germany, headline the incoming class.
After losing Esmery Martinez and Helena Pueyo to the WNBA and Salimatou Kourouma to the University of Oregon via the transfer portal, Arizona brought in two new transfer players. Sahnya Jah, a forward from the University of South Carolina and Paulina Paris from the University of North Carolina. Both new transfers will add some much-needed depth to the team.
Team
Leading the guards for the Wildcats are sophomores Jada Williams and Skylar Jones. Williams played every game and led the team in free throw percentage with 84.5% while putting up 9.5 points and 2.4 assists per game. Jones scored 7.2 points and hauled in 2.3 rebounds on average.
“Jada has tremendously improved: her voice, how she approaches things, her work ethic. Everything has gone to the next level,” said Barnes. “[Jones] has taken more of a leadership role this year too.”
Highlighting the bigs for the Wildcats is sophomore Breya Cunningham. Cunningham appeared in all 34 games, averaged 7.7 points and led the team with 1.8 blocks per game and shooting 51.7% from the floor. Also returning for her final year, using her extra year of eligibility from COVID-19, is senior Isis Beh. Her leadership and experience will play a pivotal role in this upcoming season. The Wildcats will also get redshirt sophomore Montaya Dew back from injury after missing all of last season recovering from a surgery.
“I’m really excited about this core and just excited to see what they’ll do this year,” said Barnes.
Key Games
The Wildcats will head to Palm Springs, Calif. to play in the Acrisure Series and take on Vanderbilt University on Nov. 26. The Wildcats will play either Michigan State University or University of California, Berkeley in that tournament.
After the Acrisure Series, Arizona’s schedule gets tougher, as the team will play the top three teams in the Big 12 preseason polls starting in January. The Wildcats will first play Baylor University on Jan. 8 at home, Iowa State University on Jan. 11 and then Kansas State University on the road in Kansas on Jan. 16.
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