Stanford Cardinal forward Cameron Brink (22) reaches out to block a shot by Arizona Wildcats forward Lauren Ware (32) during a game at the McKale Center, on Jan. 1, 2021.

 Josh Galemore / Arizona Daily Star

Adia Barnes was staring down what might just be the biggest game in her coaching career at Arizona.

She had never coached against a No. 1 team. The program had only faced four in its history, going winless. The last time the Wildcats hosted a top-rated team 1998, when Barnes was the UA's top player.

Barnes approached Friday’s showdown between sixth-seeded Arizona and No. 1 Stanford like any other. She admittedly watched a bit more film than usual, in part to prepare for Tara VanDerveer, who has won more than 1,100 games β€” the most of any Division I women’s basketball coach.

In the end, the extra film work wasn’t the answer. Stanford dominated early and defeated the sixth-ranked UA 81-54 at McKale Center.

Arizona suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in Pac-12 play. The Wildcats have never won a game against a No. 1-ranked team in five tries.

Following Arizona's 80-53 win over Washington, Sean Miller addressed the Wildcats' self-imposed postseason ban for the 2021 NCAA Tournament, along with other pertinent notes from Thursday's win in Seattle.

"We got punched in the mouth, and then we got slapped up and down the floor for 38 minutes," Barnes said with a laugh.

"It should hurt. It should hurt, because they made us look bad. And we didn't help ourselves. We didn't play the type of defense we normally play, but they played really good offense. We let them come in here and we're a pretty good defensive team and shoot 46% from the floor, and 40, almost 45% from the 3, that's not OK. Then they make their free throws. Number one (ranked) teams in the country do things like this β€” they shoot 25 for 28 free throws. That's all 89%, almost 90%. They make you pay."

It didn’t take long for Stanford to show why it is the top team in the nation. The Cardinal used their size and athleticism to clog the paint on the defensive end and then score on the offensive side.

Haley Jones proved that she is one of the top players in the league, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Arizona Wildcats forward Lauren Ware (32) reacts to a call by a referee during a game against the Stanford Cardinal at the McKale Center, on Jan. 1, 2021.

She outplayed UA star Aari McDonald, who finished with 12 points on 3-of-18 shooting. The Wildcats shot just 25.8% from the field. Bendu Yeaney added 10 points for the UA.

Sam Thomas scored 14 points, adding five rebounds, one block and a steal.

"I was just trying to help out the team and try and cut that lead because obviously not one basket is going to bring back 20 points. I'm just trying to chip away at it little by little, " said Thomas. "I mean, it is great to be able to score a lot against Stanford because they do try and beat you and make you take different shots that you're not used to. So I was able to get open on the three point line to hit some shots β€” it was a good confidence boost."

Thomas hit back-to-back 3-pointers and the rest of Arizona’s β€œBig 3” – McDonald and Cate Reese β€” chipped in to give UA its first 11 points. Then Thomas came alive with 3:27 left in the third frame she knocked down another 3, followed by a mid-range jumper to help close the gap to 59-39. She added more in the fourth.

However, scoring droughts hurt the Wildcats. After jumping to a quick lead, they didn’t score for nearly six minutes. McDonald knocked down two free throws for the only other points of the quarter. Meanwhile, Stanford scored 13 points.

The second quarter wasn’t any better as the Wildcats only scored seven points. They shot just 19% in the first half.

Stanford took a 44-20 lead into the locker room at the half. The Cardinal shot 48% from the field, hitting 6 of 9 3-pointers and all 10 of their free throws.

In the first half Stanford also owned the glass, outrebounding UA 29-17.

"Nothing was really working," Barnes said. "I don't know...it's one of our worst games this season, but credit to them because they made us play that way. We have to get better. That's why they are No. 1;Β  they are No. 1 for a reason. ... I think they just dominated in most areas."

Rim shots

β€’ Friday’s Cal-ASU game was delayed because of COVID-19-related protocols. Their game was delayed by 3 1/2 hours. When it tipped, the game aired the Pac-12 Arizona channel, which in turn meant that Stanford-UA was only shown on the Pac-12 Networks’ β€œnational” channel.

β€’ Less than 40 minutes before tip-off, Stanford announced that four members of its coaching and support staff would not be on the bench because of COVID-19 protocols.

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