Pellington's 35 leads Arizona to statement win over No. 4 Utah at McKale

Shaina Pellington was ready.

So was the entire Arizona team, apparently.

Pellington scored a career-high 35 points as the No. 18 Wildcats led virtually wire-to-wire, convincingly defeating No. 4 Utah, 82-72, in front of 8,238 fans at McKale Center Friday night.

Pellington stayed patient all season after tinkering with her outside shot in the offseason; now, it’s paying off down the stretch, just when the Wildcats need it.

Last Sunday Pellington scored 24 points against Cal, connecting on 9 of 12 from the field. She was even more efficient against Utah.

It didn't matter if the senior was slashing to the basket, going for a mid-range jumper, or even throwing down a 3; everywhere she shot on the floor, the ball seemed to find its way in.

Pellington scored 23 points in the first half Friday — not missing an attempt until the beginning of the third quarter — en route to Arizona improving to 20-6 overall and 10-5 in Pac-12 play. For the moment at least, Arizona's win knocks the Utes (22-3, 12-3 Pac-12) out of what was a tie between Utah and Stanford for first place in the Pac-12 standings. Arizona is fourth, trailing the Cardinal, Utes, and Colorado.

"I was in the groove," Pellington said. "I feel like once I saw the first one going in, the second one going, the third one going, the fourth one going, it just kept going and going and going.

"And I was just like, 'That's great.' But I also wanted to make sure that I was taking shots that made sense as well, for me and in the flow of the game," she added. "I focused on continuing to make the shots that I was taking. Not really changing much else. I started off on fire. So I'm happy for that."

Pellington made 10 consecutive shots and finished 13 of 18 from the field. She also hit 8 of her 11 free throw attempts — the most she's made at the line in a game this season. Over the last two games, Pellington has only missed four to improve to 60% from the line on the year. 

This is UA coach Adia Barnes' 20th victory against a Top 25 team, and Arizona has now won six of eight overall going into Sunday's home finale at noon against the No. 21 Buffaloes.

Before Friday, the last time the Wildcats beat a team ranked as high as fourth in the nation was in 2020 against Stanford. That one went to overtime and Aari McDonald hit the game-winning jumper to give UA the 73-72 win.

Barnes has now won 20 games in five consecutive seasons, becoming the only coach in UA history to do so.

The last time Arizona and Utah met in Salt Lake City in January, the game went down to the wire with the Utes Alissa Pili hitting two free throws with less than a second left to beat UA 80-79.

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While Friday's rematch had its tight moments, Arizona led for nearly 35 minutes of the game. After taking a 44-40 lead at the half, the Wildcats defense stepped up in the third quarter holding Utah to 25% shooting. Pili was held to four points in the third quarter and only nine in the second half. 

"We were aggressive in our rotations and (Pili) was manhandling us. We brought help a little bit earlier and wanted to make it harder for her inside," Barnes said of UA's defense. "Then she also went out of the game for a little bit. So that didn't help Utah. We know that, but it helped us. At one point we put Lauren (Fields) on her. And Lauren did a really good job of fronting her. Lauren is a good example of someone that helps you win a game and didn't score point. She was the glove. She was playing multiple positions, (put) pressure on the ball and didn't score a point but helped us win this game."

UA took a 53-45 lead on a layup from Cate Reese. Then came a turning point. After a foul was called on Pellington, Barnes argued with the refs and was called for a technical at the 5:35 mark. Four made free throws by Utah's Isabel Palmer cut UA's lead to four. But the sequence of events sparked a response from Arizona, which went on a 10-1 run to stretch its lead to 13. During that run, Helena Pueyo picked a steal and scored, Pellington snared another steal — she finished with five — and scored; Pellington knocked down a jumper and Paris Clark pitched in four points.  

Still, Utah never stopped fighting. With 1:08 left in the game, Pili scored and drew a foul to close the gap to four points, but the Utes wouldn’t get any closer.

Two other Wildcats finished in double figures in scoring. Reese had 16 points and Pueyo had 12.

"I'm really proud of this team, Barnes said. "I thought it was a great a great win tonight. (We) just came out and battled against a really good Utah team. Very good offensive team. They just finds ways to score and Pili is a handful inside. They're well coached.

"That was a cool team win, I thought everybody did a great job. (Pellington) was on fire. Madi (Conner) was cold off the bench and hit free throws. Maya (Nnaji) gave good minutes. Paris (Clark with) great offensive rebounds," Barnes added. "I thought a really good team effort. Jade (Loville) and Esmery (Martinez) we're limited on minutes because of foul trouble other people stepped up so this is a great definition of a team win."

Rim Shots

• Before the game Martinez was recognized for hitting the 1,000-career rebound mark during the Cal game. She was given a basketball to recognize this accomplishment. It’s her second honor this season as Martinez has scored more than 1,000 points, as well.
• Pellington went out in the second quarter with an injured ankle. She returned shortly after getting treatment in the locker room. After the game she said it was sore, but she would be ready for Sunday's game against No. 21 Colorado.
• Barnes joked that at one point she was thinking of taking Pellington out of the game and the entire bench said, 'No,' because there was a time out coming up.
• Arizona outrebounded Utah 33-30. Pellington snared eight of those and Martinez had seven. UA also had four blocks — two from Fields.
• Kirsten Smith (Cambron), the first UA women's basketball player to reach 1,000 career points, was inducted into the UA's ring of honor Friday night.

Photos: No. 18 Arizona takes down No. 4 Utah 82-72, Pac-12 women's basketball