Arizona Wildcats guard Madison Conner, left, is nominated to beat the drum by teammates Cate Reese, middle, and Esmery Martinez after Arizona defeated Oregon at McKale Center on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023.

 Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

Never count Arizona out.

Being down two post players โ€” Lauren Ware and Maya Nnaji โ€” against Oregonโ€™s big frontcourt didnโ€™t faze the Wildcats one bit.

They were up for the challenge and said, โ€œBring it.โ€

They were ready from the jump, playing smart defense, sharing the ball on offense and waiting for the great shot, not just a good one.

It paid off.

In the waning seconds of a back-and-forth game, it was Arizonaโ€™s experience that once again took over. Jade Loville hit a jumper, Cate Reese scored on a basket inside and Shaina Pellington, Madi Conner and Helena Pueyo made all their free throws as No. 15 Arizona squeezed out a 79-71 victory over No. 18 Oregon on Sunday at McKale Center in front of an announced crowd of 7,968.

The Wildcats picked up their first home weekend sweep of the young season and now hold second place in the Pac-12 as they improved to 14-2, 4-1 in league play. Oregon slipped to 12-4, 3-2.

โ€œA great, gritty win for us,โ€ Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. โ€œThis was a huge weekend at home. To bounce back after the Stanford loss (on Monday) and not feel like we performed wellย โ€” just kind of got manhandled in the Bay Area. To come back here play a really good, underrated Oregon State team. It's big. We're talking 6-8 inside, good players, coached well. And then play another really big team in Oregon. These are two really good wins. This is a huge week for our program.โ€

Arizona played one of the hardest schedules to kick off Pac-12 play. The Wildcats played five games in 10 daysย โ€” starting with their in-state rival, ASU, and finishing Sunday with another rival in Oregon. They finished the gauntlet 4-1, with their only loss coming to No. 2 Stanford.

Barnes said that through this time sheโ€™s learned that her Wildcats โ€œare resilientโ€ and have fight.

On Sunday, they went toe to toe with a healthy and much taller Oregon team โ€” without two of their top post players. Ware, whom Barnes called the Wildcats' best post defender last season, is out for the season after having surgery on her knee. Nnaji, the 6-4 freshman who is averaging 15 minutes a game and pulling down 4.5 rebounds, sat out this weekend in concussion protocol.

Yet the Wildcats held their own rebounding despiteย giving up a six-inch advantage to Phillipina Kyei, who stands at 6-8. Arizona and Oregon both had 33 rebounds. Kyei, who was coming off an 18-rebound performance against ASU, had only 10.

Part of the secret to the Wildcats' success was playing that aggressive, tenacious Arizona defense. The Wildcats forced 20 turnovers and scored 16 points off them. They got in the passing lanes and forced errant passes. Of the 14 UA steals, Pueyo had five and Lauren Fields had four.

Conner came off the bench to lead all Wildcats with 16 points, including 11 in the third quarter. She played gritty basketball, picking up a charge and drawing contact on a 3-pointer and an inside shot.

โ€œIโ€™m just doing what I am supposed to doย โ€” going out there and brining the energy,โ€ Conner said. โ€œWhen you come off the bench, you're supposed to bring a spark, and I feel like I'm trying to do that in different ways. Not just shooting the 3, but that might be finding my teammates shots or playing defense, taking charges or whatever it takes.โ€

Arizona Wildcats guard Shaina Pellington (1) releases the ball as Oregon Ducks guard Chance Gray (2) and Oregon Ducks guard Endyia Rogers (4) watch in the second half during a game at McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz. on January 8, 2023. Arizona won 79-71.

Pellington, who made her first 3 of the season in Friday nightโ€™s game, made two against Oregon. She finished with 14 points and hit all four of her free throws. She had been shooting 57% from the line coming into this game. Pellington also had six assists, six rebounds, one steal, one block and no turnovers.

โ€œI'm just trying to be more patient and not really force things as much,โ€ Pellington said. โ€œWe're playing against teams that are not necessarily really big on pressuring as muchย โ€” they played to our strengths. If you can't shoot, they're not going to guard you. For me, my strengths, most teams don't want to guard me. But today I feel like I was making shots. And I was able to make the right read because now they had to guard me a little bit closer. I was able to make the right passes.โ€

It was a back-and-forth game most of the way. Oregon would take a little lead, then Arizona would catch up. And vice versa.

With 2:06 left in the game, it was Lovilleโ€™s jumper from the top of the key that gave the Wildcats a 69-67 leadย โ€” a lead they wouldnโ€™t relinquish the rest of the way.

Loville finished with 13 points. Esmery Martinez chipped in 11, and Reese had 10.

Arizona went 15 of 19 from the free-throw line, which has been a weakness all season.

Next up for Arizona is a trip to the mountain schools next weekend to play Colorado (13-3, 3-1) and Utah (14-1, 3-1).

Rim shots

โ€ข The Wildcats shot 40.3% from the field. They have won every game in which they have shot at least 40% this season. They were under 40% in both losses.

โ€ข Arizona had 18 assists on 27 made baskets.

McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.

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Contact sports reporter PJ Brown at pjbrown@tucson.com. On Twitter: @PJBrown09