Dominique McBryde, Arizona Wildcats dominate fourth quarter to beat USC for fifth straight win

Sunday’s game against visiting USC represented another big challenge for the Arizona Wildcats.

After blowing out No. 8 UCLA on Friday night in an emotional win, there were questions as to how UA would respond in its next game. Will the Wildcats be too drained from the biggest win of the season? Will they still be thinking about Friday night?

As with any Pac-12 matchup, UA knew it wasn’t going to be an easy one. USC was unranked, but took ASU to three overtimes Friday before losing by one point, and also put an end to UCLA’s undefeated season a few weeks ago.

Luckily for UA, coach Adia Barnes always has her team focused on the game at hand, and although it took a while for the No. 16 Wildcats to wear down the Trojans, they finally did in a 73-57 win in front of 5,027 fans at McKale Center.

Dominique McBryde took over in the fourth quarter to carry the Wildcats (18-3, 7-3 Pac-12) over the finish line and set up another big game Friday at No. 3 Oregon.

Arizona has now won five straight regular-season conference games for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. They’ve beaten USC three straight times for the first time in 16 years.

This is UA’s first Pac-12 home sweep of the season and the first time they’ve beaten both LA schools since 2005.

“I’m really impressed with how our team played this weekend, just to get a sweep and in the conference is huge, huge game against UCLA on Friday,” Barnes said. “Then to follow up after being so high on Friday, to maintain our focus and get a win today against a good USC team. I’m proud of us.”

McBryde started out doing her usual things on defense — altering shots, forcing her opponents to make bad decisions and even swatting a ball in the first half.

However, it was the end of the third quarter when she finally shook off the rust on the offensive side of the court. Her shot hadn’t quite come back — yet — from the six games she missed earlier in the season from an ankle injury.

With less than a minute left in the third quarter she did a turnaround and made a mid-range shot to give UA a 50-44 lead.

“I was throwing it back to my high school days,” McBryde said. “I haven’t pulled that in a long time. I’ve been trying to get back to more just playing naturally.”

Then, she exploded with five of the Wildcats’ first 10 points in the fourth — a 3 from the corner and then a drive to the hoop. She added another drive and then laid one in from inside on a small-window assist from Aari McDonald.

McBryde had four points after three quarters and finished with 14 points, one steal, one block and one assist.

“She helps us,” Barnes said. “So even when she’s not scoring, she’s so valuable because she’s so smart. She makes the right pass. She doesn’t force things.

“We’re just a lot better with her. And then I feel like she can play like this every game. And what I love about our team right now is last game, it was Sam (Thomas), this game it’s Dominique. So different people are stepping up in different ways.”

Two other Wildcats who stepped up were Cate Reese and McDonald. McDonald started the third quarter out with a steal and finished the fast break with the points to give UA a 33-25 lead. She also stole an inbounds pass and scored.

She finished with 20 points for her 58th straight game in double figures. She has scored in double figures her entire UA career and holds the longest active streak in the nation.

She added six steals and eight assists. And for the second consecutive game she only had two turnovers.

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“I’m impressed with that,” Barnes said. “She handles the ball in every set we have so it’s really good as much as she is the catalyst on offense – to only have two turnovers is huge.”

Reese picked up her seventh double-double of the season with 18 points and 17 rebounds. Her teammates kept finding her inside — as they typically do as games wear on.

“I think Cate especially did a great job at attacking them,” McBryde said. “I saw the scoreboard where everyone’s stats are and I was like she has many almost as many points as rebounds. It was amazing. She was clutch when we need her and came up with great and key rebounds to seal the deal.”

Arizona won the rebound-battle 35-27 and picked up 10 offensive boards.

The first half for Arizona was all about defense right from the start. Less than two minutes in, Thomas swatted a ball from behind — her first of two blocks in the half. Thomas finished with seven points, three steals and two blocks.

During a stretch in the second quarter, the Wildcats were smothering so much, the Trojans didn’t score for four minutes as Arizona took a 24-13 lead.

When they did, it was a 3 from Endiya Rogers – the first points that weren’t from the hands of Alissa Pili. Pili had scored all 10 up to that moment. Then USC rattled off 12 more points in the last minutes of the half to keep it close

Reese hit two baskets and Thomas was clutch with a three, as the Wildcats held on to a 31-25 halftime lead.

With under a minute left in the first quarter, Helena Pueyo whipped a pass to Lucia Alonso who knocked down a three in the corner — the Spanish connection — to give the Wildcats an 18-8 lead.

Thomas and Alonso have now both moved up on UA’s career 3-pointer list to a seventh-place tie with Natalie Jones with 117.

Arizona heads to Oregon next weekend on a roll. They’ve already completed two season sweeps, against ASU and USC.

“We’re on an amazing streak right now, an amazing run,” McBryde said. “We got to keep up this momentum and keep it rolling.”

Rim shots

After the game, Barnes was presented with a big birthday card signed by the fans — her birthday is Monday. “That stuff’s meaningful for me,” Barnes said. “It’s really nice, because people don’t have to do those things. I’m very appreciative of those things — those little things matter to me more than like a gift, you know?”

Arizona held USC under its scoring average (63.9), as it has done to every Pac-12 opponent this season.

Semaj Smith grabbed eight rebounds in 12:25 minutes of action for the Wildcats.

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