3 takeaways from Arizona's first road sweep of the LA schools in 21 years

That was quite the weekend for Arizona.

Two overtime wins: over No. 14 UCLA, 71-66, and USC, 81-75 — the latter taking two extra periods.

Have you caught your breath yet?

It was the Wildcats’ first sweep of the Los Angeles schools in L.A. since 2002.

It couldn’t have come at a better time as Arizona needed to turn a corner after dropping one to Washington State at home the previous week.

Arizona — which rose from 22nd to 17th in this week’s Associated Press poll — now owns sole possession of fourth place in the Pac-12 at 8-4 in league play. If the league tournament were to be played today, the Wildcats would have a first-round bye. Six games remain in the regular season.

Stanford is up next, coming into McKale Center on Thursday for a game televised on ESPN. The Cardinal always present a difficult challenge and will be especially tough after they lost to Washington 72-67 Sunday.

But before we get to that one, here are three takeaways from this weekend’s sweep:

1. Cate Reese dominated

Reese was named to the top-10 list for the Katrina McClain Award last week — given to the best power forward in the nation — along with fellow UA post player Esmery Martinez. Arizona is the only school with two players on the list.

As of late, Reese has really come alive in the third and fourth quarters — wearing down and then overpowering the opposition. She’s been the Reese of old.

Against USC, we might have seen the new Reese — the one who takes it to a completely different level.

On Sunday, she dug deep after playing 39 of 45 minutes in the win over UCLA to turn in her best performance of the season — and maybe of her career. Reese finished with a career-high 33 points and pulled down seven rebounds — at times going up over sophomore Rayah Marshall, who is one of the best shot blockers (3.2 per game, third in the nation) and rebounders (11.4, seventh) in the country. Marshall finished with seven blocks and 20 rebounds, yet Reese was able to play the angles and dominate.

“She wasn’t afraid,” UA coach Adia Barnes said, “didn’t care that she was getting her shots blocked and kept on taking it to them — and taking it to them through a lot of contact. … It was physical, and I think just completely dominated and was motivated and determined.”

Reese held her ground for a career-high 49 minutes against USC.

Earlier in the week, Reese was asked how her shoulder is feeling after dislocating it last February, having surgery in the offseason and going through rehab.

“Sometimes it gets a little stiff,” she said. “But besides that … I really don’t feel it anymore.”

Reese definitely didn’t feel it over the weekend.

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2. Maya Nnaji played like a vet

Nnaji played 27 minutes against USC — the most she’s played this season — and they were the biggest minutes of her young career.

The 6-4 freshman, who suffered a concussion after the start of Pac-12 play and missed a few games, was easing back into the rotation. On Sunday, with Martinez in foul trouble — and eventually fouling out with 2:13 left in the first overtime — Nnaji stepped onto the floor and showed why she was one of the top-rated bigs in her class.

She hit a jumper just inside the 3-point line to tie it up, sending the game into the second overtime. She finished with seven points, none bigger than those two.

She also stood out on the defensive end. She finished with eight rebounds and three blocks.

“(Maya) showed composure and didn’t play like a freshman,” Barnes said. “(It’s) difficult for a freshman that hasn’t gotten a tremendous number of opportunities, when the senior is in foul trouble, to come in and hit a big shot to tie the game.

“(She) had some huge blocks around the rim. Played good defense. I thought (she) gave incredible minutes. I’m really proud of her.”

3. Never count Cats out

Nothing really fazed the Wildcats in Los Angeles. In both games, they dug deep and didn’t give up.

For Barnes, these types of gritty performances come down to one thing: “Believing that we can still win the game.”

Just a few weeks ago, Arizona didn’t seem to have that belief or extra mental edge. Something changed last week. Barnes would only say it was a regular week of good practice. But somehow the Wildcats came together and seemed to have that something extra that it takes to win close games.

Against the Trojans on Sunday, it was a back-and-forth battle. On Friday, the way the Wildcats won was completely different. They came from behind, down 11 with less than five minutes left in regulation against UCLA, a top-15 team (at the time), forcing overtime and coming out on top.

Barnes said that Sunday’s game came down to making “huge, huge plays and buckets down the stretch.”

Reese dominated. Jade Loville and Shaina Pellington came up with big shots in big moments. The Wildcats’ balance — which showed up in all areas of the box score — made all the difference.

“A great team effort,” Barnes said, “(with) different people stepping up at different times.”