Aari McDonald left it all on the court — just like she said she was going to do in her final regular-season game at Arizona.
Yet, with seconds ticking off the clock, down by two to ASU, she couldn’t get a good look. Arizona’s star guard passed the ball to Cate Reese, who was open. Reese’s shot clanked off the rim to the right, and ASU pulled off a 66-64 overtime upset in Tempe on Sunday afternoon.
Despite the loss, No. 9-ranked Arizona still finishes the Pac-12 regular season in second place with a 13-4 record. The Wildcats will be the No. 2 seed in this week’s Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.
Arizona also moved up a spot in the Top-16 reveal for the NCAA Tournament, which means that if the tournament was held today, the Wildcats would be the No. 7 team overall and a No. 2 seed. However, the top seeds were selected before Sunday’s game.
In the Pac-12 Tournament, the Wildcats open up Thursday night against the winner of the No. 7 vs No. 10 game. At this point, it’s a little cloudy as to who that will be: No. 10 seed Utah canceled its game against Colorado on Sunday due to COVID-19 protocols. The Utes were contact tracing and do not know if they will participate in the opening-round game on Wednesday.
The seventh seed will be Washington State.
Arizona’s Bendu Yeaney, left, is defended by Arizona State’s Eboni Walker on Sunday. ASU won 66-64 in overtime.
UA’s last shot against ASU wasn’t how the Wildcats drew it up. Coach Adia Barnes wanted the ball in the hands of the McDonald, the team’s All-American, at the end.
Barnes said the Wildcats lost the game long before then.
“We played bad; ASU wanted it more,” Barnes said. “I saw it in the warmups — I was actually worried in the warmups. (The Sun Devils) were intense. They were talking; they were confident; they wanted to win. And they took it from us. They played really well. They forced us into doing some tough things. They came in, shot the ball well. They came into the game under 30%. From the 3, they shot 56% (Sunday). … We let them shoot 46% from the 2. We won’t win games like that.”
McDonald did it all for the Wildcats, finishing with 30 points, six steals, one block, one assist and four rebounds. Multiple times during the game when they needed a basket or a stop, it was McDonald who stepped up. Yet, in the end she couldn’t get off a shot to win or send it into a second overtime.
UA beat ASU by 28 at McKale Center in December, but knew the rematch wouldn’t be easy. The Sun Devils had nothing to lose and they played like it.
ASU hit 10 of 18 from the 3-point line, with Taya Hanson leading the way on 5 of 7 shooting. She gave the Sun Devils a 65-62 lead with less than a minute left in overtime.
The Wildcats had a miscommunication on the coverage on a switch by Bendu Yeaney and Trinity Baptiste.
“I was making it difficult for her and I thought she curled,” Yeaney said. “I got hit by the screen and Trinity told me to switch. She hit the big shot.”
Yeaney was the only other Wildcat in double figures, scoring 14 points. She also had two steals and four rebounds.
Arizona finished with 13 steals, above their 10.3 steals-per-game average. The Wildcats forced 22 turnovers and scored 21 points off of them.
The Sun Devils appeared to pull away in the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run. But then McDonald and the Wildcats rallied. McDonald took on three players near the basket and beat them to close the gap to 49-44. ASU chipped in three more to extend its lead to eight before Arizona mounted its comeback.
ASU led 52-45 with 3:11 left in the game, but McDonald stopped a fast break with her quick hands. She followed it up with a layup on the other end. Baptiste added two on a put-back to cut the lead to 52-49.
With 1:18 left in regulation, McDonald went coast-to-coast and laid in another one to make it 54-51. She knocked down four free throws in the final 30 seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime.
Much of the first half was a defensive battle. At one point in the first quarter ASU kept UA off the scoreboard for 3:18 before McDonald hit a floater inside.
ASU led by only one, 12-11, after the first quarter after McDonald hit a 3 to close it out.
In the second quarter ASU was held to eight points.
The Wildcats finished on an 8-0 run for a 25-20 lead at the half.
McDonald hit a 3 and Yeaney followed with her second 3 of the frame. Then, after Sam Thomas drew a foul on the defensive end, with eight seconds left Reese inbounded to McDonald who took on the entire Sun Devil team, weaving her way to the basket for the layup.
With 13 points at the half, McDonald checked off another game in double figures. Her streak of 85 straight games is the longest active one in the nation.
Arizona scored 11 points on 13 turnovers in the first half.
“We can’t win games like this,” Barnes said. “We gave them momentum, we let them stick around.
“Then they just punched us in the face and took it from us. And that’s unfortunate.”
Rim shots
- Helena Pueyo did not play. Barnes said she was resting her for the Pac-12 Tournament.
- Arizona gave up 16 points on turnovers in the second half.
- Thomas scored eight points, had two blocks and two steals.
- Reese and Baptiste each had six points. Reese led all Wildcats with eight rebounds.
