Cate Reese and Trinity Baptiste proved just how valuable they are to the Wildcats’ success in Sunday’s 69-33 slamming of Cal.
In the first five minutes of the game, the UA forwards scored nine of the team’s first 11 points and grabbed three defensive rebounds.
Reese and Baptiste combined to score 31 points — two fewer than the Golden Bears’ team combined — while shooting 15 of 18 from the field.
It was a good sign nine games into an unusual season. Seventh-ranked Arizona’s offense flows through the post players. For the Wildcats to be successful, both Reese and Baptiste must get their touches.
“We should always get the ball inside,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. “For them to be 15 for 18, that’s a good stat. The gameplan was to get the ball inside. That was a challenge because Cal’s really good in the paint. They have really good athletes; they start four post players.
“We wanted to win the battle the paint. I thought Trinity and Cate responded well, with efficiency and just had a real sense of urgency.”
Reese and Baptiste are both aggressive, but their games are different. Baptiste muscles and backs her way into layups and has a quick turnaround shot from a few feet away. She can hit 3-pointers, yet she does most of the work down low.
Reese will drive, has both a mid-range jumper and a 3-point shot, and does a lot of catch-and-shoot from inside.
When the two get touches, the Wildcats’ offense hums.
And when they don’t?
In Friday’s night’s blowout loss to No. 1 Stanford, Reese and Baptiste combined for just five points on 2-of-7 shooting.
They weren’t a factor “because we didn’t enable them to be a factor,” Barnes said.
Wildcats forward Trinity Baptiste (0) likes to do most of her damage down low, as her 8-of-9 shooting performance vs. Cal on Sunday showed.
The coach said the two will be key to an NCAA Tournament run. The Wildcats (8-1 overall, 6-1 Pac-12) play Friday at Washington and Sunday at Washington State.
“We’re not a good team and we won’t win championships if we don’t play inside,” Barnes said.
Nice rebound
Barnes said Sunday’s blowout win was huge for her team’s psyche.
Nine different Wildcats scored, with Baptiste, Reese and Aari McDonald (12 points) all put up double figures. Arizona shot 50.8% from the field and hit 8 of its 11 free throw attempts.
“Everybody had tough nights (against Stanford), then they come back and respond and play well — and play as a team. That’s important,” Barnes said. “I think the character of our team, who we are … We’ve won in different ways these last time games: We’ve had three big games with double-digit deficits.
“We’ve held leads. We’ve been on the road. We’ve got some gritty wins on the road. We’ve been able to do things. We got punched in the mouth up and down the floor for 40 minutes on Friday, but then responded with a better performance on Sunday.
“Those are things that are going to prepare us for … the Pac-12 and the tournament.
“That’s why I’m proud of us. We stayed together; we’re not becoming fragmented. We’re together, our culture is strong, all those things.”
Tough talk
After Friday’s loss, Barnes talked to her players about their collective weaknesses and what each everyone needs to do from this point on.
“(It was) a conversation about where we’re at, and what we need to do to attain our goals,” Barnes said.
“These are young players. Hindsight is always 20/20. If I knew what I know now, when I was 20, or 19, I would have been a much better player. Reminding players that you don’t only get better in practice … You get better with skill work, you get better at taking extra shots. Those are things that players can do on their own. Those are things that you have time to do right now, during the break (between games). If you’re not shooting, well, if you’re shooting 20% … then you need to get in a gym and take shots. If you’re not shooting free throws well, you don’t just say, ‘I’m not shooting free throws well. I want to shoot free throws well’; you need to go in and work on it. …
“I talked about the difference between good and great teams, because championship teams do that. Teams that are mediocre and average don’t, but 99% of teams are average, right?”
Wildcats land point guard for 2022
Arizona has landed its first recruit for 2022. Kailyn Gilbert, a top-rated guard from Tampa’s Seffner Christian Academy, verbally committed to the UA late Monday night.
ESPN rates the 5-foot-8-inch Gilbert as the No. 18 overall prospect for ‘22, and No. 6 at point guard. She scored a combined 72 points in two games last week. Last season, she averaged 32.1 points per game and was named Florida Dairy Farmers Class 3A State Player of the Year.
Barnes has relied heavily on texts and video calls during the pandemic as the NCAA has shut down all visits to campuses and coaches’ home visits. In November, Arizona signed a three-player recruiting class of Madi Conner, Aaronette Vonleh and Anna Gret Asi that’s rated No. 15 in the country.
