And just like that, the Arizona women’s basketball season was over.
The Wildcats’ effort to extend their season for one more game in the Pac-12 tournament came up a little short, with a 70-63 loss to No. 6 seed Oregon on Thursday night. The Wildcats led 44-41 heading into the fourth quarter, but then Oregon’s shots started falling and the UA’s didn’t.
As Arizona coach Adia Barnes joked: “I could’ve used one more shooter.”
With her first season is in the books as head coach, finishing 14-16 overall, 5-13 in Pac-12, Barnes’ knows this Wildcats team has come a long way.
“What’s really important is this is the start of something special,” said Barnes. “We came together, trusted each other, and learned how to win — they didn’t have that early on. If you you’ve never been there, you don’t know. They learned how to have a lead and keep it with USC. Earlier in the season they would have lost that one. They saw they could do it. You have to learn that … what it feels like, what it looks like.”
Looking back, it was a season of recognizable accomplishments — stats and wins — and some not as easily measured, such as culture and growth.
In the last few weeks of the season, the Wildcats picked up the pace and won three out of five games, finishing with five league wins — something they haven’t done since the Pac-12 expanded to 12 teams.
“We’ve taken steps forward,” said senior Dejza James, who played in every game her senior year after last year’s season-ending foot injury. “We’ve been through it all … five wins … wow. We are all growing up. For me, it was my senior year; this is it. You play different when you have confidence, you just play.”
And play is exactly what teammate LaBrittney Jones did all season. The All-Pac 12 and All-Defense honorable mention player finished 11th on the all-time Arizona scoring list with 1,263 — one point behind Kristen Smith for 10th place. She also etched her name on the UA all-time rebounds and blocks list with 688 rebounds for eighth place and 161 blocks for third place.
She will go down as one of the best to put on the Wildcats uniform.
“She (Jones) has meant a lot to the Arizona basketball program, both this year and in past years,” said assistant coach Kelly Rae Finley. “I think she is the model student-athlete in her preparation, demeanor, and resiliency.”
It was a year of growth for Jones’ teammates. Two examples are freshman Lucia Alonso and senior Breanna Workman. Alonso, a guard, cracked the starting lineup for most of the season and overcame a language barrier — she’s from Spain. She scored 14 points and connected on four three-pointers in Thursday’s game against Oregon.
Workman, a post player, picked up a spin move to the basket toward the end of the season after extra time with assistant coach Salvo Coppa. In addition, against USC in the last game of the regular season, Workman scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, playing much of the game out of position as a guard in the all-senior lineup.
During the lead-up to that game, she learned a few offensive sets and improvised the rest. This is nothing new for Workman. Earlier in the season, associate head coach Sunny Smallwood commented that Workman knows what everyone else on the court should be doing.
“I think the most important thing is the growth,” said senior Malena Washington. “We’ve had rough times and gotten through. We did things no one thought we could do.”
No doubt Washington was also talking about adjusting to a new coaching staff and taking their game up a notch.
“They played with heart,” said Barnes. “We asked a lot of them with a different style of play, different roles and expectations. They did it and I’m proud of that. They did everything we asked.
“It’s the little things I loved. In the beginning we were very scripted on plays and I’d call a play and a counter. Then they would just do the counter without me calling it. That was awesome. Making adjustments in game without me calling are important moments. They did grow a lot.”
They grew off the court, too. When Barnes first signed on as coach, she didn’t hear one good thing about the program.
A year later, things are different. The team went from last to No. 1 in community service compared to all other sports and had its best academic semester in more than 10 years. This is something Barnes takes pride in: The culture is changing quickly.
The other small things Barnes could change right away also included bringing on the team’s first dedicated strength and conditioning coach, a nutritionist, a sports psychologist, and even a branding expert.
“I value these things that help athletes holistically,” said Barnes. “They are important for us. I want them to feel good and take care of their bodies. We want them to develop into their best on and off the court. It’s all part of what we are building here. It’s the little things that helped me, and if I don’t teach them, I didn’t do my job. I want them to be better every day.”
Looking ahead to next year, Barnes is excited, yet cautious. Returning are: Taryn Griffey, Alonso, Bria Rice, Eugenie Simonet-Keller, Destiny Graham and Charise Holloway. Add to the mix five top recruits: Sam Fatkin, Sam Thomas, Kiana Chew, Marlee Kyles and Mallory Vaughn.
“We’ll shoot the ball more,” said Barnes. “Our size will help; we will be a lot bigger. All our recruits come from winning programs and know how to win. We’ll be young and might take a step back, but we are building for the future. They are really smart players, and I am excited to put all the pieces together.
“Lucia will be so much better and JaLea (Bennett) has the potential to be a big impact player. She is a tremendous athlete and next year she will have a big year and help us lead the freshmen.”
