• Alec White

The Arizona Wildcats star point guard talks about her 26-point game, how Arizona pulled off the unlikely upset of UConn and why she's proud of her teammates. (Video by Alec White/Arizona Daily Star)

This summer, each member of the Star’s sports team will assemble a list of the five most memorable Arizona games they’ve covered since joining the beat. This week, PJ Brown will reflect on five women’s basketball and softball games:

Brown’s No. 1:

Arizona handily defeats UConn for spot in National Championship game

What went down: Arizona upset traditional power UConn, 69-59, in a Final Four game on April 3, 2021, in the NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Cate Reese, Aari McDonald and their Arizona teammates celebrate after the Wildcats’ defeated national power UConn to advance to the championship game of the 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship tournament on April 2, 2021 in San Antonio.

What we wrote at the time:

For the past two weeks, Arizona kept saying that no one believed — except those in the Wildcats’ own locker room.

On Friday night, they were joined by fellow faithful.

Former UA basketball standouts and fans came from near and far and stood cheering for the entire 40 minutes as Arizona defeated UConn 69-59 in the Final Four. The Wildcats will play No. 1 seed Stanford on Sunday for the national championship. The Cardinal edged South Carolina 66-65 earlier in the evening.

“We shocked the world tonight,” star guard Aari McDonald said. “Keep betting against my teammates and I;’ we’re going to show you wrong.

“We’re going to prove you wrong.”

Coach Adia Barnes said Friday’s win “hasn’t settled in yet.”

“It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s a lot easier to play loose when there isn’t pressure. But I’m just happy. We got hot at the right time during the tournament.”

Arizona’s first-ever win over UConn and first-ever win over a No. 1 seed happened in part because of McDonald, who scored 26 points, grabbed seven rebounds and grabbed two steals.

The other two members of Arizona’s “OG3,” Sam Thomas and Cate Reese, also scored in double figures. Thomas finished with 12 points, five rebounds, one steal and one block, while Reese had 11 points and three steals.

Arizona guard Aari McDonald (2) drives past UConn's Christyn Williams (13) early in the Wildcats' win over the blue blood Huskies on April 2, 2021 at the Final Four of the NCAA women's basketball tournament in San Antonio.

After the final seconds ticked off the clocked, McDonald threw the ball in the air and her teammates swarmed the court and the celebration began. Players hugged each other as “Bear Down, Arizona” played over the Alamodome speakers. When McDonald finally turned to see the fans, her family and others in the stands, she tapped her heart twice and put up her index finger.

Number 1.

Arizona defense was on point from the jump, disrupting the vaunted UConn offense. The Wildcats took the Huskies out of their game plan by doing what they do best — getting deflections, turnovers (12) and altering shots.

“We were we were confident,” McDonald said. “We’ve been playing with confidence in the last four or five games. We know that the first five minutes of the game, they’re crucial. … we’re confident. We do this. That’s our identity. We’ve been doing this from the start, and I’m loving it.”

Arizona held steady to nearly a 10-point lead much of the game. Every time it looked like UConn might go on a run, the Wildcats got stops.

That defense held UConn to only one three-pointer in the first half. UConn finished with 36% shooting and hit five three-pointers.

— PJ Brown

Cate Reese, Aari McDonald and their Arizona teammates celebrate after the Wildcats' defeated national power UConn to advance to the championship game of the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship tournament on April 2, 2021 in San Antonio. 

Player of the game: Aari McDonald with 26 points, seven rebounds two steals. At one point, after draining a three, McDonald struck her now famous arms-crossed pose.

McDonald said of the pose: “I’m a dog. I’m the stuff. I was just thinking like, ‘man, nobody can stop me.’”

By the numbers: 3 and 5. Arizona held UConn to three field goals in the first quarter — the first coming three minutes in — setting the tone for the entire game — a wire-to-wire victory. The Huskies only hit one three-pointer in the first half.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats controlled the game from the jump with McDonald and Thomas hitting back-to-back threes.

Paige Bueckers, who took national player of the year honors, was held to five points in the first half.

The Arizona Wildcats arrive at the Alamodome for their Final Four showdown against UConn in San Antonio, Texas on April 2, 2021.

The aftermath: This is the biggest win in program history. It was David knocking off goliath —as UConn, winner of 11 championships, was easily dispatched by upstart Arizona.

No one expected the Wildcats to be in the Final Four, let alone playing in the championship game. Arizona would lose to Stanford by one point in the title game.

But this game, this run put Arizona on the map like it never was before; that was the Wildcats’ goal from the first day Barnes took over the program.

The next day, Damon Stoudamire, the former UA men’s basketball standout and now coach at Georgia Tech, shared with me what he didn’t want to get lost in this monumental win for the program: Barnes had outcoached UConn’s legendary coach, Geno Auriemma.

Personal reflections: This game had the feel of a championship game. We were in the height of the pandemic — the teams were in bubbles as the entire NCAA Tournament was played in one city, San Antonio — and fewer than 5,000 were allowed to attend the game. Still, it sounded like a packed arena.

UConn’s Paige Bueckers, the 2020-21 national player of the year, had nowhere to turn against UA’s Cate Reese (25), Bendu Yeaney (23) and Arizona’s own superstar, Aari McDonald (2), during the third-seeded Wildcats’ 69-59 Final Four upset win over national power and No. 1 seed UConn on April 2, 2021 in San Antonio.

Dare I say it was “McKale East?”

All of the Arizona fans were on one side with the media in the walkway right behind the seats. Former UA standout Angela Lackey was in the row directly in front of me sitting on top of her seat. I stood, along with others, the entire game. It was the only way for me to see the game and take notes.

It felt like a who’s who of Arizona sports. Everyone was there from longtime administrator Kathleen “Rocky” LaRose and Jason Terry to former UA coach Joan Bonvicini and her Wildcats Dee-Dee Wheeler, Danielle Adefeso and Reshea Bristol, as well as Barnes’ former players and fan favorites LaBrittney Jones and Lindsey Malecha.

While everyone seemed to be holding their collective breathes for UConn to make an adjustment and go on a rally, it never came to be as the Wildcats’ signature defense just took the Huskies out of their element by altering shots, getting deflections and forcing turnovers (12).

Perfect plan, perfect execution.

An Arizona fan dances to music in the arena during a timeout in the second half during the NCAA Tournament Final Four game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on April 2, 2021. Arizona beat UConn 69-59.

Cover 5: Relive the entire list of PJ Brown's most memorable games on the Arizona beat

This summer, each member of the Star’s sports team will count down five of the most memorable Arizona games they’ve covered since joining the beat. Here's PJ Brown's list.

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Contact sports reporter PJ Brown at pjbrown@tucson.com. On Twitter: @PJBrown09