'Cats final game in the Pac-12 just slips between their fingers as USC defeats Arizona, 65-62

It wouldn’t be an Arizona game, at least not during this 2023-24 season, if it didn’t come down to the bitter end.

One week after taking then-No. 7 USC to within two points in a triple overtime loss, the Wildcats came just about as close again, this time against the No. 5 Trojans.

But in the end, Arizona couldn’t hold off the USC, losing 65-62 to the second-seeded Trojans in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament Thursday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Arizona is now 17-15 and will have a little more than a week to rest up and prepare for what they hope is a bid to the NCAA Tournament. With one win on Wednesday over Washington 58-50 and taking USC down to the wire, the Wildcats’ believe their chances look fairly good.

Meanwhile, USC improves to 24-5 to advance to the tournament's semifinals, Friday at 8:30 p.m.

After getting punched in the first quarter, Arizona’s defense took over. The seventh-seeded Wildcats trapped, narrowed the passing lanes and disrupted their opponent. After spotting USC a 20-9 lead in the first 10 minutes Arizona won every single quarter after — 16-10, 19-18 and 18-17. However, it just wasn’t enough to overcome that initial gap.

After the game when USC’s Rayah Marshall was asked if was exhausting as it looks to play Arizona.

“Yes, it is.," she said. “They're a competitive team.

Marshall finished with a double-double (15 points, 15 rebounds).

“Like (USC) coach (Lindsay) G(ottlieb) said, they're a really good team; a tournament team. They compete. Their defense, we felt it the entire game. I just remember being out at their house and they were up 10 with I think it was like five minutes left in the game. They never stopped competing even when we did come back and take that game in double overtime. Super competitive team.”

While it’s a total team effort — all seven Wildcats contributed to that swarming defense — fifth-year Helena Pueyo stood out once again.

This time she shut down JuJu Watkins for 33 of the 34-plus minutes the Pac-12's Freshman of the Year played. Pueyo, who plays just about every minute herself, had a little break Thursday; she played all but 40 seconds of the game. Watkins was held to 17 points — tied for the phenom's second-lowest point total of the season.

In the second half, Watkins scored only six points. Her last came on a circus shot that gave USC a 62-57 lead — a difference that proved just too much for the Wildcats to overcome. The Wildcats showed they still had some fuel left in the tank by scoring eight points down the stretch — Jada Williams and Pueyo each knocked down 3-pointers and Williams finished off the Wildcats’ scoring with a jumper — but it turned out just barely not enough.

Not only did Pueyo guard Watkins, she turned it up on the other end of the floor, too. She finished with 19 points and six assists. Oh, by the way, she also had six steals — her final one coming with 5:20 left in the game.

That last one made history as Pueyo is now UA’s career leader in steals with 305. That number surpassed the legendary Dee Dee Wheeler. It must be said that Wheeler, who is in the Ring of Honor and one of the best players to don the UA uniform, got 304 in four years, while Pueyo did it in five.

“I think as a freshman I couldn't play with a better point guard than Helena,” UA forward Breya Cunningham said. “Helena directs everything. Helena is the most unselfish players e most unselfish player that I played. She's always playing for us rather than herself. … I don’t know what we’re going to do when Helena leaves next year.”

Cunningham stepped up, as well. She went strong to the basket – even faked at one point and scored. She pulled down offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive. She altered shots inside.

Cunningham played like a poised upperclassman. She finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Another freshman, Skylar Jones, also put up 14 points and added three steals.

USC went on a 13-0 run from the end of the third quarter until Jones picked a steal and Pueyo was fouled while shooting with 6:17 left in the game. The Wildcats responded with a 9-4 run to close the gap to three, 60-57 with 1:27 left. Then, Watkins somehow got that shot to fall with 20 seconds remaining.

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She said it

Arizona coach Adia Barnes on the loss: “This was a great game. We battled.

"We've had seven and haven't had a lot of bodies to practice, but we go out and we fight. I told our players today we won every quarter but the first quarter. The first five minutes we got punched and that was the difference in the game. That's one of the reasons we lost; we won all the other three quarters. We had a chance to win just like we had the last time against them. But we just came up too short. I'm proud of us.”

Key moment

It was all about the second quarter. That's when Arizona climbed back into the game.

The Wildcats forced eight turnovers with Pueyo collecting four steals, scoring four points and dishing three assists. Cunningham chipped in eight points and pulled down two rebounds with one assist, one block and one steal.

The opening sequence went like this: Cunningham had a block, the Wildcats forced a shot clock violation, Pueyo scored on a jumper, Watkins was called for a charge, Pueyo picked a steal and Cunningham scored. Isis Beh went after a 50/50 ball and got it. Then Pueyo had a circus shot of her own from under the basket after getting a takeaway. USC’s lead was cut to 21-19.

Then, the Women of Troy pulled ahead to a 30-25 halftime lead. 

In the crowd

Former UA softball coach (and interim AD for a few weeks) Mike Candrea was in the stands for both of Arizona’s games in Las Vegas this week.

Former UA standout Sam Thomas participated in a 3-point contest during one of the breaks in the game. Her prize: $500 and on X (Twitter) she said, “Easiest $500 I’ve ever made.”

By the numbers

21: Arizona forced 21 turnovers (15 of them were steals) and scored 17 points off the takeaways.

15: Watkins and McKenzie Forbes combined for 15 turnovers.

6: The game was tied six times.

79%: UA went 11 of 14 from the free throw line shooting 79%. USC was 13 of 19 for 68%.

Photos: (2) USC defeats (7) Arizona 65-62, Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament