Big second quarter pushes 22nd-ranked Cats past Cal State Northridge in season opener

The 22nd-ranked Arizona Wildcats used a 32-point outburst in the second quarter to soar past Cal State Northridge 87-44 in Tuesday’s season opener at McKale Center, their first regular-season game since making the first Final Four in program history.

Seniors Cate Reese and Sam Thomas paced the Wildcats offensively, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Thomas scored Arizona's first points of the night and went on to go 5 of 7 from the field with three 3-pointers. Reese owned the paint much of the night shooting 6 for 12 and grabbing five rebounds.

"Usually for me, if I hit that first one, I feel confident about the rest," Thomas said.

Arizona shook off a slow start after going 5 of 15 from the field in the first quarter.

The Wildcats’ offense came alive in the second quarter as the team knocked down 13 of 17 shots and went 4 for 5 from 3-point range. A stretch of three consecutive 3s midway through the quarter, including two in a row from Thomas, gave the Cats a 20-point cushion.

Arizona finished 8 of 19 from 3-point range. The team also connected on 52.3% (34 of 65) of its field goal attempts.

“You’re going to see a lot of shooters,” Thomas said. “I hope you guys can see we’re a little bit of a new team.”

Netty Vonleh scored six straight points in her college debut to put the Cats up 47-18 at the break.

The Wildcats opened up the second half right where they left off, scoring 13 straight to begin the frame. Bendu Yeaney started the quarter off with a layup, followed by two more layups apiece from Reese and Lauren Ware.

A 3-pointer from Reese put the exclamation point on the 13-0 run to give Arizona a 60-18 advantage.

UA coach Adia Barnes utilized 10 players off the bench against CSUN. The game started off with Shaina Pellington, Yeaney, Thomas, Reese and Ware on the floor before Barnes mixed-and-matched the roster.

"I knew coming into the game I wanted to play a lot of people," Barnes said. "I think we saw some good things and some things we really got to work on."

In limited action off the bench, Vonleh scored 14 points on 7 of 8 shooting and hit her first five shots of the night. Guards Pellington and Taylor Chavez combined to go 0 of 5 from the field, but contributed a total of nine assists.

During the third quarter, Thomas broke the Arizona program record for most minutes played in a career with 4,245.

“I guess that’s why I took my fifth year,” Thomas joked. “Just kidding, just to be a part of this program and make history with this program I feel really honored.”

111021-spt-uawomenshoops-p2 — Arizona forward Lauren Ware gets a hand on Cal State Northridge forward Kayanna Spriggs’ shot during Tuesday’s first half.
Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

Arizona has now won all six of its season openers in the Barnes era.

The Wildcats’ next game is a big one: They’ll take on No. 6 Louisville Friday in a neutral-site game played in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The 2:30 p.m. game will air on ESPNU.