'We'll see who's ready to step up': Wildcats' depth will play big role with Cate Reese out

It wasn’t a good start to the last week of the regular season for Arizona.

The Wildcats suffered their fifth loss of the season Sunday, losing 72-67 at Washington State. The defeat dropped them four spots to No. 12 in the AP poll on Monday, pushing them outside of the Top 10 for the first time in 13 weeks.

Even more devastating is what happened with just under seven minutes left in Sunday’s game. That’s when Arizona’s Cate Reese collided with WSU’s Johanna Teder on a layup. Reese dislocated her shoulder either during the collision or when her arm and shoulder hit the floor.

Reese was in tremendous pain as UA coach Adia Barnes and trainer Jessie Joseph ran to her. After the game, Barnes said that an X-ray showed nothing was torn or broken, and that Reese would follow up with the team doctor in Tucson this week.

As of Monday afternoon, it wasn’t yet known how long Reese would be out of the lineup.

“She’s going to be pretty sore — it was the first time dislocating her shoulder,” Barnes said. “That was pretty devastating for me. I’ve never seen that before. So going next to her and she’s an excruciating pain. It was scary. That kind of shook me a little bit. Cate is so important for this team in every single way. Obviously, when she went down it was a huge dagger.”

Just how big of a dagger is yet to be seen.

Reese, arguably the team’s best player, was averaging 16.2 points per game during Pac-12 play. For the Wildcats, who are a balanced team this season with different players stepping up in each game, Reese was the steady one that her teammates could count on. They knew that at a certain point in the game, she had worn down her opponent and was ready to take it to them on both ends of the court.

Consider Sunday. Thirty seconds prior to her injury, Reese has scored on a layup, then went down the court and blocked a shot leading to a Sam Thomas steal. Reese ran down the court and got in position for another layup, when she was fouled and suffered the injury.

Arizona and Washington State each scored 14 points after the injury, but UA wasn’t able to contain the Cougars on the defensive end, which is where Reese’s presence and passion was needed.

Reese has been a force on defense, grabbing rebounds and forcing turnovers while altering shots and passes.

“Cate is one of our best players and she’s someone we go to inside we look for scoring and intensity and rebounding. I think it just shakes the team,” Barnes said.

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Reese has started every game of her Wildcat career and averages nearly 27 minutes per contest. This is her first injury and was especially hard for Thomas to see her roommate get hurt.

“It’s tough to see that, especially with Cate — she’s like my ride or die,” Thomas said. “We’ve been here the longest together. She has been my roommate for the past three years. I feel like I know her, and she knows me so well. … I kind of like felt her pain for her. I just felt so bad for what she was going through. I know she’s strong and she’ll be back, but I just felt really bad for her.”

Arizona has a quick turnaround this week as it hosts UCLA on Thursday and USC on Saturday to close out the Pac-12 regular season. The Wildcats don’t have much time to get back to their winning ways with so much on the line, as they hope to secure a bye in the Pac-12 Tournament and possibly host the first rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Ariyah Copeland will be returning this week after missing five games because of migraine headaches and trying to find medications that work for her. She will help the Wildcats inside with scoring and defending in Reese’s absence. Copeland also steps out to set screens and has hit some outside shots. However, look for her to focus on getting putbacks and easy baskets inside. Her presence could be just what the Wildcats need from here on out.

“We need some other people step up right now and I think that’s what good teams do,” Barnes said. “Other people find ways to step up when some of the best players are out. … That’s the great thing about having depth. You can do that. But now we have to do that … so we’ll see who’s ready to step up and how this team rallies together to finish up the season strong. We’ve worked too hard to just lay down right now.”

As for Reese, Barnes is hopeful we will see her back on the court at the Pac-12 Tournament. Barnes won’t rush her back, but said, “The timing couldn’t have been better if this was going to happen, because right now last two home games — we’ll have 10,000 people plus great momentum playing at home.”

“And then we have a little bit of time (before) the Pac-12 Tournament,” Barnes said. “Hopefully if we keep continuing to win a couple games, we can have a bye. It just buys us time. And so that’s like 10-11 days, so there’s a good chance that she can only be out maybe a week, maybe less because there’s nothing else damaged. …

“I won’t play her unless she’s ready and she can play, because for me I’m looking big picture. If we take care of business, do well in the Pac 12 Tournament, we’re going to be in a great position to possibly host and go to the NCAA Tournament. I really need her for that — we need Cate. But, at least we have time.”

Rim shots

Thomas had a scary moment herself earlier in Sunday’s game. She was boxing out Charlisse-Leger Walker and “she jumps up and I undercut her — I felt myself undercutting her. I tried to fall to the ground to release her fall a little bit, and then my leg just accidentally released her fall. She just landed on my leg. It was a little bit (scarier) than it hurt.”

Reese got a little extra support after the game from Shaina Pellington, who has had multiple dislocated shoulders during her career.

Barnes said that Reese was sad after the game, but more so because the Wildcats lost. Reese took to Twitter later Sunday night to thank the fans for checking in on her and said, “Hope to be back on the court with my teammates as soon as I can! In the meantime we have our last two home games this week. Hope to see you there!! Thank you and bear down.”