Adia Barnes saw a hunger in her players all week.
That should have been the first indication that Thursday's Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal game against Washington State was going to end differently than their last two.
Arizona came out with energy and their tenacious defense from the jump, disrupted the Cougars and controlled the game on the way to a 60-44 victory at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak; Arizona fell at No. 4 Stanford last week and rival Arizona State on Sunday.
Second-seeded Arizona (16-4) moves on to play UCLA, which beat Washington late Thursday night. Friday's Pac-12 semifinal between the Wildcats and Bruins tips off at 9 p.m.
Washington State beat Arizona by two in overtime in their first meeting. Arizona avenged that with an 11-point win in Tucson.
Dropping Sunday's regular-season finale to ASU Sunday stung, but with the calendar flipping to March, the Wildcats knew they had to step up.
It didn’t take long.
Trinity Baptiste, who led the Wildcats with 17 points, 8 of 11 from the field, said that it was simple: “We don’t want to go home.”
“We are just taking it one game at a time,” Baptiste said. “But that was the intensity from the start of the game. We know we have to play how we should be playing. But not to dwell on that, but now you're going to see a better Arizona team. That's what the intensity was in the beginning.”
Baptiste added six rebounds and six steals, tying Aari McDonald for the most steals in a game this season. The senior forward scored seven of the Wildcats' first nine points and had 13 points at the half.
Arizona forward Trinity Baptiste (0) shoots during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Washington State in the second round of the Pac-12 women's tournament Thursday, March 4, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
Meanwhile, Arizona's defense was on point. The Wildcats started out with pressure, forcing steals, travels, back-to-back shot clock violations and turnovers. They trapped, double-teamed and narrowed the passing lanes. The Cougs did not score their first basket until there was less than two minutes left in the first quarter.
In that first quarter the Wildcats had five steals, two blocks and forced 11 turnovers. Arizona took an eight-point lead, 13-5, into the next 10 minutes, which was more of the same. Six more steals and nine more turnovers.
“Well, that's our identity — that's who we are,” Baptiste said. “You're going to see aggressive defense, traps. Just we're going to be ultra-aggressive every time. … It's no surprise, honestly. We always play like that. We take a lot of pride in our defense.”
UA took a 29-21 lead into the half, thanks in part to Washington State's 20 turnovers. Arizona would have led by more, but it allowed Krystal Leger-Walker to hit a wild 3-pointer as time ticked off the clock to close the gap.
The defense took it up a notch in the third quarter. The Wildcats went on a 14-0 run to extend their lead to 16 at 40-24 with under three minutes to go.
Everyone got into on the action. Cate Reese started it off with an inside basket on an assist from McDonald. Sam Thomas followed with a three, Shaina Pellington scored on a layup after a steal by Helena Pueyo. Baptiste and McDonald both scored on putbacks.
McDonald finished with 13 points to extend her to consecutive games scoring in double figures streak to 86, the longest active streak in the nation. She also had a season-high nine assists, three steals and five rebounds.
Reese chipped in 10 points and two steals. Thomas had seven points and four rebounds. Lauren ware had six points and two blocks.
The Wildcats pulled away even more in the fourth quarter.
WSU only shot 26% from the field, while Arizona shot 42%.
“It wasn't a perfect game for us, but I thought defensively we were pretty solid,” Barnes said. “We made mistakes like we're going to, but we had passion plays, we had hustle, we fought. I'm just proud of how we responded after the (ASU) game because we could have just said, ‘OK, we're not playing well.’ But I thought they responded well and different people stepped up. I'm proud of our performance and proud that we're not going home.”
Rim Shots
• Freshman guard Madi Conner scored her first points as a Wildcat when she hit a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. Conner enrolled at the UA in January after graduating from her Phoenix-area high school a semester early.
• Stanford beat USC to move into the semifinals and will play Oregon State.
• ESPN’s analyst Charlie Creme joined Ashley Adamson on Pac-12 Networks Thursday afternoon and selected Stanford to win the National Championship. Creme said Stanford has all the pieces, a Hall of Fame coach in Tara VanDerveer — and experience that comes from months on the road earlier in the season.
• Teams are taking turns practicing in two large conference rooms this week, one of which includes WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces’ court. Typically, teams go to high schools in the area and last year, the Wildcats practiced at the YMCA.
