Not enough bodies. Not enough toughness.
Those were the biggest takeaways from the Arizona women’s basketball team’s 77-61 loss at Cincinnati on Tuesday.
UA coach Becky Burke had control over the former, electing not to play seniors Noelani Cornfield and Nora Francois for disciplinary reasons. Burke said their absence was a “coach’s decision.” She added that she would re-evaluate the situation ahead of Saturday’s home game vs. Arizona State.
The toughness part remains a work in progress.
“We gotta find a way on the road,” said Burke, whose team is 0-7 away from McKale Center. “I thought this was a winnable game for us. We showed that for 20 minutes. I think, on a good day, we're the better basketball team.
“But it's the same things. It's the physicality. It's the toughness. It's the rebounding.
“They're gonna have to dig deep, deep, deep into their souls to figure out if they've got it in them.”
Cincinnati's Ramiyah Byrd goes up for a shot over Arizona's Blessing Adebanjo during the Bearcats' 77-61 victory over the Wildcats on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2025, at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati.
Also missing injured guard Mickayla Perdue, Arizona (11-13, 2-11 Big 12) struggled to keep pace with Cincinnati (9-16, 4-9) in the first half. The Bearcats outscored the Wildcats 46-22 in the opening 20 minutes, when the UA — without its leaders in points per game (Perdue) and assists per game (Cornfield) — shot just 25.8% from the floor.
Arizona outscored Cincinnati 39-31 in the second half despite being shorthanded and having several players in foul trouble. But it was too little, too late as the Wildcats never got closer than 16 points. They were outrebounded 49-29.
“I'm not gonna beat them down,” Burke said. “We won the second half. Unfortunately, it took them getting their butts kicked in the first half to wake up and figure out that they need to get back to the game plan and get back to flowing and rhythm offensively.
“I will try to build that as a positive, because we have to do something going into the ASU game to feel good about ourselves.”
There were some positive individual performances.
Cincinnati's Mya Perry launches a 3-pointer as Arizona's Tanyuel Welch flies past her during the Bearcats' 77-61 victory over the Wildcats on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2025, at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati.
Guard Sumayah Sugapong bounced back from a rough outing at West Virginia to post a team-high 20 points, plus five rebounds and four assists.
Guard Tanyuel Welch played all 40 minutes and had nine points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Center Achol Magot scored eight points on 3-of-3 shooting and had a pair of blocks. She was the lone Wildcat with a positive plus/minus rating (plus-12).
Freshman forward Daniah Trammell had 12 points, three rebounds, two steals and a block in her return to her hometown of Cincinnati. Trammell, who fouled out with 5:02 to play, had a large cheering section behind the UA bench.
“I thought she was good,” Burke said. “I thought she was aggressive and handled it well for a freshman coming home and playing in front of a ton of people.
Freshman forward Daniah Trammell had 12 points, three rebounds, two steals and a block in her return to her hometown of Cincinnati.
“I thought she had her little freshman moments, like she's had all season. But solid, proud of her and thought she handled the spotlight, if you will. There was a lot going around this week in terms of her coming home.”
Cincinnati had five players in double figures, led by junior guard Reagan Jackson (19 points). Forward Ramiyah Byrd had 14 points and 15 rebounds. The Bearcats also were missing three members of their rotation.
ASU was set to host Utah on Wednesday night. The Sun Devils defeated the Wildcats 68-61 on Jan. 28 in Tempe.
