ARLINGTON, Texas β Esmery Martinez scored 13 points and was part of dominating Arizona rebounding performance with nine boards in the No. 18 Wildcatsβ 78-59 victory over UT Arlington on Wednesday.
Lauren Fields, Shaina Pellington, and Cate Reese scored 10 points apiece for Arizona (10-1), which won its third straight game. Maya Nnaji grabbed nine rebounds to go with six points before fouling out at the start of the fourth quarter.
The win capped a triumphant Texas two-step for Arizona, which beat then-No. 18 Baylor on Sunday night in Dallas.
βWe were able to bounce back after a big high,β UA coach Adia Barnes told the Star. β(We) played well against Baylor and then we werenβt super flat coming into today. Defensively we werenβt great, but held them for a time to eight points, which is really good. β¦ We need to improve on on-the-ball defense, but overall we did some good things.β
Arizona outrebounded the Mavericks 47-26, including 17-7 on the offensive glass resulting in a 22-4 bulge in second-chance points.
Starr Jacobs scored 15 points, Kayla White 13 and Taleya Jones 12 for the Mavericks (6-6), who lost their first home game this season after four wins.
The Wildcats finished the first quarter with an 11-0 run, Pellington leading the way with six, for a 21-8 lead. Fields had a pair of 3-pointers as Arizona scored the first eight points of the second quarter for a 21-point lead and were up at the half 49-31. The Mavericks never got closer than 18 in the second half.
Arizona is off until Dec. 29, when it hosts Arizona State in the teamsβ Pac-12 opener. The Wildcats will play at Cal on Dec. 31 before heading to No. 2 Stanford for a Jan. 2 game.
McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.
