Arizona women's basketball swats Sun Devils down at McKale

It looks like all Arizona needed to get back on track was a good old rivalry game. It was ugly, no doubt about that, but UA took over in the fourth quarter to defeat ASU 66-59 at McKale Center on Saturday afternoon in front of 8,370 fans.

Arizona stopped its' two-game losing streak to improve to 15-10, 6-6. ASU is 8-16, 2-10, extending its losing skid to nine games.

“These are really hard games, just with so many emotions, a rival game, which the freshmen don’t even know about,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. “A tough game. They are a good team. They can score. They’ve been in a lot of games and had chances to win. They are hard to guard and you saw that because the end of every quarter we gave up a lot of points. Not too happy about that but at this point, I’m just happy to get a win, because wins are really hard.”

This one was the typical rock fight. Arizona took a 28-24 lead into halftime, but it turned into one of those grit-it-out battles. It all ticked up a notch in the third quarter, as there were 15 fouls called. ASU had eight, Arizona seven. Bodies were flying.

After taking a slim three-point lead into the fourth quarter, ASU tied the game up at 44-44 just seconds into the final frame. The Sun Devils weren't giving an inch.

Then, it was the Wildcat's turn as the duo of Breya Cunningham and Jada Williams took over. Williams knocked down a 3, Cunningham scored on a layup, Williams blocked a shot that ended up in Cunningham's hands. What followed was the sophomore connection — a quick pass from Williams to Cunningham down low, who finished. In a little more than three minutes, UA led 51-44.

ASU hadn't scored a field goal in more than four minutes.

After the game, ASU coach Natasha Adair said, “We talked about finishing. 44-44 and couple open looks, one possession, two possessions, but every possession matters. We fought to the finish. But it's just, we gotta finish.”

In the end, Arizona just wanted it more.

“Rivalry games are always going to be close, no matter the rankings or anything like that,” Williams said. “Everybody wants to take that big 3. We knew it was going to be a battle. We just came in here knowing we had to play at home, win at home and give everything we got. I think we did that.”

After getting two fouls in the first half, Cunningham didn't let it bother her the rest of the way. She said it was her coach, Barnes, who kept telling her to “keep shooting, eventually they’ll fall. I was taking good shots.”

In the fourth quarter, Cunningham scored nine points and finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

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Barnes said that Cunningham stayed in the game mentally and that made all the difference.

“I don't think she makes that jumper if she wouldn’t have made a couple layups,” Barnes said. “All those things are confidence, and I'm happy and proud of the way she stuck with it because in the past, she would not have been able to do it. … She had 10 shots in the second half. She needs to get shots and she has to be someone to take the most shots on our team because she shoots the highest percentage, so we need to give her the ball.”

Williams, the player of the game, scored 18 points, pulled down seven rebounds, dished three assists and picked two steals.

Isis Beh was the steady aggressor from the tip, going up for offensive rebounds, scoring and disrupting on defense. She was forcing turnovers, getting jump balls and making it difficult for the Sun Devils. She finished with eight points, a career-high five assists and a steal. Beh also scored her 500th career point.

Freshman Lauryn Swann came off the bench and found her shooting touch, helping to propel the Wildcats in the first half. After being a bit rusty in her previous two games coming off a concussion, Swann knew exactly when to let it fly. She scored 10 points in 10 minutes of action — 3 of 8 from the field and two 3s – in the first half.

On an inbounds play under their own basket in the first quarter, Williams passed to Paulina Paris, who drove to the hoop for a score. Then, Montaya Dew stole two of ASU's inbounds passes on back-to-back plays, leading to easy baskets from Williams and Jones and giving UA an early 12-4 lead.

Sahnya Jah was dressed in sweats and wasn’t available to play. It is believed that she didn’t take the Colorado trip with her teammates. Barnes said she wouldn’t talk about what is going on – she wants “to keep” it in the family – but “hopes she’ll be back soon.”

The Wildcats shot 40.7% and held the Sun Devils to 32.8%. Arizona also scored 19 points off 15 Arizona State turnovers.

Photos: Arizona grit their way to a 66-59 win over Arizona State, Big 12 women's basketball