'It's been a great 5 years': College careers ending for Cate Reese, fellow UA seniors

Time has flown.

It seems like yesterday that Cate Reese was entering the Richard Jefferson Gymnasium for the very first time and looking up at the image of her new head coach, Adia Barnes, on the wall as a player, and vowing to make her mark on the Arizona program.

That was more than five years ago. Reese is now entering the final home game of her career as No. 18 Arizona hosts No. 21 Colorado on Sunday at McKale Center.

If they win, the Wildcats will have swept the mountain schools at home after beating No. 4 Utah on Friday night — and they will be one step closer to securing a bye in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. In addition, the Wildcats will add another checkmark on the positive side of the ledger for the NCAA Tournament, having beaten five Top 25 teams this season and two down the stretch.

“I feel like it went by so fast,” Reese said earlier in the week. “When you look at it day by day, it goes by slow. But I feel like I was a freshman last year. Looking back, I’m super proud of everything that we’ve been able to accomplish as a program. I think it’s exactly why I came here.

“It’s funny because I was thinking about senior night (on Tuesday) I literally started tearing up. It’s just so sad, and I feel like my time is up here. It’s been a great five years.”

Reese has been part of the build of the Arizona program, along with fellow seniors Helena Pueyo and Shaina Pellington. Jade Loville is the other senior who is walking and being celebrated on Sunday. All four want to play professionally.

When she was a freshman, Reese was on the team that started it all — the one that won the WNIT Championship in front of a sold-out McKale. Reese, UA’s first McDonald’s All-American, has earned an All-American honorable-mention nod, All-Pac-12 honors and been a finalist for the Katrina McClain Award given to the top power forward in the country.

“She took a leap of faith and a chance on us,” Barnes said. “And then just to start and then to be a star player just as we climbed — I can’t say enough about her as a person, as a player, what she represents off the court, just her resiliency, how she’s improved. I’m proud that she could be a part of that group like the Sam Thomas, Aari (McDonalds) that have lifted this program to the next level. … She definitely left her legacy.”

Pueyo and Pellington joined the next season. Pueyo was on the court as a freshman, could barely spoke English yet showed flashes of the player she would become — this year making the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year midseason watch list. In that freshman year, she averaged 6.7 points per game and swiped 41 steals. She ranks second in the Pac-12 with 2.3 steals per game with three regular-season games left.

Pueyo, this year’s team captain, hasn’t exhausted her full eligibility just yet. She can come back for a fifth year next season and hasn’t made her decision yet. She is waiting on professional offers from Europe and Spain but said UA is a true option and that it’s “special.”

“Coach Adia wants me to come back,” Pueyo said. “I’m really happy that she says I’m her number one (recruit for next year).”

Barnes said that Pueyo has grown so much in her four years at UA. Off the court she has come out of her shell and has become a jokester. On the court, she’s turned into an all-around player. Barnes said she will be a good professional and added that “I hope it’s after one more year.”

Pellington was the last of the group that had to sit out a year after transferring from Oklahoma. Her first season on the court was 2020-21, when the Wildcats made it to the national championship game — and that was her best game of the season: 15 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

She has done a lot for the Wildcats over the last two seasons, from game-winning heroics last season to putting up a career-high 35 points against Utah Friday night. She is also a member of Team Canada and played in the 2020 Olympics.

“Shaina has changed so much,” Barnes said. “If I look at Shaina when she first got here to who she is now, (it’s) drastically different. I think she’s learned so much. I think she’s matured so much. … It’s been fun watching her go through the transformation on and off the court.

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“Shaina is really smart, and when she applies herself, she can do anything. Her aspirations are to go pro, so she’s going to leave here with a degree and she’s going to go pro. I think she’s going to have a great career. I’m just excited to see what the future holds for her, but she’s been special for us.”

Although she has played only one season at UA, Loville also has had an impact. Barnes said she wishes she could have coached Loville much longer.

“Jade works like a pro,” Barnes said. “If you go into the gym early, you will see Jade working. She’s not just there shooting or shooting half-court shots or standing and talking and holding a ball. She’s working. She’s working on stuff that she needs to apply. She’s working on down screens, she’s sweating.

“She takes care of her body. She rests. She does things like a pro. ... I think that’s really important. Everybody doesn’t have that.”

Difficult week

It’s been a rough week for Barnes and the Wildcats with three deaths in the family: Lauren Ware’s aunt, early enrollee Montaya Dew’s mother and Barnes’ former Seattle Storm teammate, Simone Edwards.

Barnes was close to Dew’s mom and wanted to go to her funeral on Saturday, but with Sunday’s Colorado game, the logistics didn’t work out.

“That was hard for me. And I promised her mom I’d take care of her here. That was a hard moment,” Barnes said, fighting back the tears. “Then, Lauren had a death in the family and left. That was a difficult moment.”

Edwards won the 2004 WNBA championship with Barnes in Seattle.

“One of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Barnes said. “She was fighting ovarian cancer and passed away, so that was hard. All my teammates on the Storm are calling. All the WNBA players, and it’s just not real. It’s shocking. … If anyone knows Simone, she was loved by everybody, she was a fan favorite.

“This week, I was like, ‘Gosh, everybody is having a tough time.’ But you figure it out. I think you just have to move on. And I think this is life. As I’m getting older, it’s happening more and more.”

Rim shots

It is still unknown if Esmery Martinez and Lauren Fields are using their extra year of eligibility. Even if they participate in Senior Day, they can return.

The seniors will always remember the fans and how they packed McKale to watch the Wildcats play.

“It’s been a blessing just to play on this home court in front of all these fans ... they support us through the good, the bad, the ugly — everything,” Loville said. “I’m so fortunate to have joined this team for my last season. …

“I went to Starbucks (Tuesday), I walked in, I was in there for five minutes, and I heard ‘Loville!’ She is a fan. Just to be well known, it feels like you’re famous in Tucson. It’s just that support. It’s such a blessing, especially in women’s basketball. That’s huge right now. McKale is really putting on for women’s basketball. That’s so great to be a part of — it’s a piece of history that I feel like I’m part of. I’m so fortunate.”