Madi Conner and Gisela Sanchez are already making it hard for coach Adia Barnes to keep them off the floor.
The two freshmen made a statement in Friday night’s 110-39 exhibition win over Arizona Christian. Conner scored 18 points for the 22nd-ranked Wildcats, all coming on 3-pointers. Sanchez chipped in 17 points of her own.
Conner was at her best in the fourth quarter, hitting five 3-pointers.
“My team was just finding me in the right spots and that’s my job to knock down open shots,” Conner said.
Sanchez shot 7 for 11 from the field and knocked down two 3-pointers. During a one-minute span in the first quarter, Sanchez scored on back-to-back layups following steals by Helena Pueyo. She then drained a 3.
Freshman Gisela Sanchez “is a 6-4 versatile player,” coach Adia Barnes said.
Barnes knew that both Conner and Sanchez would add a lot to the Wildcats.
“(Gisela) is a 6-4 versatile player,” Barnes said. “I knew she had a chance to be really good. … Gisela, her size, her length, the spark she brings. She brings a lot of defensive tenacity and grit. I like that. She was pressing them when we weren’t pressing. She can shoot the 3, pass the ball. Every pass from Gisela is like a no-look. … She can play the 2,3,4. (She) can’t really play the five because of her strength but she runs like a gazelle. … I think she can be really good.
“And this was a good game for her. I thought her and Madi did a really good job and they’re both freshmen. We have some good young talent.”
Shooters, shooters
Everywhere you look, Arizona has shooters.
Six Wildcats combined to hit 15 3-pointers against Arizona Christian. The Wildcats shot 48% from beyond the arc.
“This is the polar opposite than what I’m used to,” Barnes said.
Sophomore forward Lauren Ware said the Wildcats’ ability to shoot is “what really makes us a different team this year.” Arizona shot 33.7% from the field during its 2020-21 run to the national championship game.
“I think last year, we lacked that shooting capability,” Ware said. “That’s gonna really help me, Cate (Reese) and Ariyah (Copeland) and everyone else — all the posts — inside because we can spread the floor. You’re not going to be able to stagger the paint. We have shooters that can spread the floor, so it’s going to be really good for us this year.”
UA isn’t just hitting from long range. Arizona shot 53% of their shots from the field, and scored 52 points in the paint.
Players have been scoring in bunches, too. Sam Thomas scored the first five points Friday night on a short jumper off an inbounds pass and a 3. Netty Vonleh hit a layup and a turnaround jumper in the second quarter, and Taylor Chavez hit consecutive 3-pointers.
Improving little by little
Barnes has a list of things to work on to get better each day. The list includes when to help in defense, boxing out on rebounds and reducing the number of fouls and mental mistakes.
Barnes said Arizona is a few months away from deploying its signature swarming defense. The Wildcats have added a lot of new players, she said, and it will take some time for them to get there.
“We have to work on it and that’s what we do,” Barnes said. “I think we do a really good job at teaching and working on this thing. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, you’ll see an improved team, but we’re not just going to become a great defensive team in two weeks, but you should see us getting better at something every time we play. …
“Our job is to develop. I really take pride in developing Madi, take pride in developing Lauren, developing even Koi (Love) more. We do that. Cate has improved a lot in the last couple of years. We want to get our players better. I think we are intentional about that. We’re one of the few teams in the country that does skill work every day, all year round for all of our players.”
Rim shots
Love wore a mask during the game. She wore one all week at practice after getting stitches in her mouth from being banged by an opponent’s head during the first exhibition game.
The UA drew 6,124 fans for the exhibition game.
