Arizona Wildcats guard Aari McDonald (2) reacts to being fouled by Northern Arizona Lumberjacks guard Jacey Bailey (11) during the first quarter of Arizona Wildcats's women's basketball season opener against NAU at McKale Center, 1721 E. Enke Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on Nov. 29, 2020.
Arizona Wildcats head coach Adia Barnes talks with the Arizona Wildcats during a timeout in the Arizona Wildcats's season opener against Northern Arizona University at McKale Center, 1721 E. Enke Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on Nov. 29, 2020. Arizona won 76-63 over NAU.
Arizona Wildcats guard Derin Erdogan (10) dives for a lose ball during the fourth quarter of Arizona Wildcats's season opener against Northern Arizona University at McKale Center, 1721 E. Enke Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on Nov. 29, 2020. Arizona won 76-63 over NAU.
Arizona Wildcats guard Aari McDonald (2) steals the ball from Northern Arizona Lumberjacks guard Nyah Moran (12) during the first half of Arizona Wildcats's season opener against NAU at McKale Center, 1721 E. Enke Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on Nov. 29, 2020.
Adia Barnes tried to keep the Wildcatsβ game-day routine as normal as she could, but it wasnβt easy. Not during a pandemic.
The pre-game meal was up on the concourse with players sitting eight feet apart. The No. 7-ranked Wildcats stayed in pods in the locker room and had shoot around with their masks on. They sat distanced on the bench and there were no fans in the stands, except for some family members.
But there were a few regular things: Barnesβ pre-game speech β something she never veers from, always staying consistent with her message.
And then banging the drum after the Wildcats defeated NAU 76-63 at McKale Center on Sunday afternoon.
It was Barnesβ fifth consecutive opening-game win in five years at Arizona. NAU drops to 1-1, while UA is 1-0.
Arizona has now beaten NAU 16 straight times at home and hosts No. 9 UCLA in its Pac-12 opener Friday.
βIt feels less togetherΒ because itβs the situation,β said Barnes, who collected her 69th win. βBut we were fine. I mean we rolled with it and did it but itβs very, very different.β
Something else that was different in this game was that it was junior forward Cate Reese coming out of the gate carrying her team on her back. She ended with her 16th career double-double on 21 points, 11 rebounds.
The last time these two teams faced each other β in Reeseβs freshman year β she scored 21 points, as well.
Reese scored 11 of Arizonaβs 18 points in the first quarter. She was driving and scoring and aggressive in all parts of her game.
βIβm not surprised at all,β Barnes said. βCate has improved so much. She played today like she does every day in practice. And she goes hard. Sheβs been the one dominating our gold jerseys.
βShe just played great. She was rebounding well, leading our fast breaks. Sheβs gotten so much better. Iβm proud of her.β
Early into the fourth quarter she picked up her tenth rebound after altering a shot inside on defense.
At the half Reese had 15 points and was 7 of 10 from the field with five rebounds.
After the game she said her βteammates did a good job finding her.β
Aari McDonald admitted she had some jitters coming into the game and she was a little slow to get started with her scoring. However, the other parts of her game were on point as she finished with eight assists, six steals, seven rebounds β and yes, 18 points.
βAari is always Aari β her defensive effort and heart is never a question,β Barnes said. βShe plays the passion every single night. It wasnβt her night. I thought some of it was she kind of wasnβt staying in her shot, just floating a little bit off balance. But those are shots she normally makes, and those shots look good and felt good to her. So those will come.
βI thought her defensive effort was great. β¦ she did other things. And thatβs what I love about Aari. Letβs say her buckets arenβt falling, and sheβs not just feeling it on offense, sheβs going to play defense, sheβs gonna do other things to help us win. And thatβs what she did today.β
With those 18 points, McDonald extended the longest active double-figures scoring streak in the country to 67 games.
The Wildcats got off to a slow start and led only 18-15 after the first quarter. Their defense started picking things up in the next frame as they held the Lumberjacks to two scoreless runs β one around four minutes, the other towards the end of the half was for a little over three minutes.
Former Pima Community College star J.J. Nakai hit a three-pointer to end that streak with 1:12 left in the half to bring the Lumberjacks within six, down 30-24 at the half.
Nakia would go on to finish with 17 points. Jacey Bailey and Emily were the only other Lumberjacks in double figures with 14 points.
After a few adjustments at the half, the Wildcats took over. Barnes said that she challenged her team and they came out with βmore of a sense of urgency.β
And it showed, especially on defense.
βWe just talked about coming out on point β especially for me, I wasnβt hedging on the screens and that was really affecting them on defense,β Reese said.
βWe started hedging better, Aari got some good steals to push us ahead. We talked about boxing out, which is definitely something we need to improve on before Friday. And just transition defense wasnβt great for us. I think that just comes with communication and chemistry. Weβll definitely get better at that.β
At this point, there were glimpses of what is to come once Barnes settles into her rotations and the chemistry gels a bit more.
Trinity Baptiste went 6 of 9 for 12 points with her scoring coming inside and Shaina Pellington dropped 11 points. Freshman Lauren Ware tallied eight points, five rebounds and a block. The stat stuffer Sam Thomas was 3 of 5 for eight points, one steal, one block, three rebounds and two assists.
Barnes knows they have to tighten things up for league games, yet she was happy with what she saw in their first game in 266 days.
βIβm just blessed that we were able to play,β Barnes said. βIβm proud that we got the jitters out. We got our first game out β we were undefeated til today. Now weβre still undefeated, which is good. β¦ I think youβll see us improve in the next few days.β
Rim shots
* Some Wildcats had new kicks β customized Kyries with the Arizona block A β courtesy of Kyrie Irving. This is the second time that theyβve received shoes from the Brooklyn Net. In February they were the only team in the country wearing his new release. The connection is through assistant Jackie Nared Hairstonβs husband, Josh, who played basketball at Duke with Irving.
*Β Reese needs only eight rebounds to hit 500 in her career.
Photos: Arizona Wildcats women's basketball season opener