Probable Starters
ARIZONA
G Shaina Pellington (5-8 senior)
G/F Jade Loville (5-11 senior)
F Esmery Martinez (6-2 senior)
F Lauren Fields (5-9 senior)
F Cate Reese (6-2 senior)
LONG BEACH STATE
G Tori Harris (6-1 senior)
G Kristyna Jeskeova (6-2 junior)
G Malia Bambrick (5-11 senior)
G Kianna Hamilton-Fisher (6-0 junior)
G Ma’Qhi Berry (5-10 senior)
Key players
Long Beach State —
Malia Bambrick
Bambrick, a transfer from Pepperdine, is the steady presence the team needs in scoring and rebounding. She averatges 15 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and scored 21 points in her first game in a LBSU uniform. Last season, she led Pepperdine in 3-point shooting percentage (33%); this year, she’s hitting 43%. Bambrick scored more than 1,000 points in four seasons at Pepperdine before transferring to The Beach.
Arizona — Shaina Pellington
Only three games in and Pellington, a fifth-year senior point guard, has shown the jump in her all-around game. She is averaging 14.7 points per game, and led scorers with 19 points on Friday night. While it’s a small sample size, it easy to see that Pellington is more in control of her shot and has improved when it comes to reading defenses.
All-time series: Arizona is 7-16against Long Beach State. The Beach won the first 14 games in the series, and UA won the next six. UA dropped the next two before winning in 2018.
Sidelines
Tucson connection
Lauren Green, a 6-foot-2-inch senior forward and former Cienega High School standout, will make her McKale Center debut on Sunday. Green averaged 12.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in her final season at Cienega. She had many college offers, including one from Arizona. Ultimately, she selected Long Beach State.
Sunday’s game is like coming full circle for Green, who grew up watching the Wildcats; LaBrittney Jones was a favorite.
“It’s going to be pretty surreal, because I did go to a lot of (Arizona) games when I was younger and just seeing all the college players and thinking, ‘That’s who I wanted to be.’ Being at that point is a really big step in my life and to be able to play in Tucson,” Green said. “…LaBrittney is one of the top people I looked up to. It was her energy.”
Sunday marks the first time many in Green’s family have seen her play in person. The senior got excited just thinking about playing in front of a crowd that could reach more than 6,000 people.
“Every time I’ve been on the phone with my mom for the past month, she’s been counting down the days that I get to come home and she gets to watch me play at UA. That’s really funny,” Green said. “But for the entire time I’ve been at Long Beach my grandparents have been begging coach Jeff (Cammon) to have us play at Arizona so that they can come watch me play. That’s been a constant conversation for four years.”
He said it
“They play a different defense than we’ve faced. They are much more aggressive. They play a 2-2-1 zone press that is aggressive. They are aggressive on the pick and roll. We’re going to face a different kind of defense and that’s good because we need to be able to adapt and adapt fast. It’s going to be a different game for us.” – UA assistant coach Salvo Coppa, who scouted Long Beach State
Fun Facts
Long Beach State: For Tori Harris basketball is the family business. Her older brother, Tobias, plays for the 76ers. Her older sister, Tesia, played for Delaware and St. John’s and now works for her dad, Terrel, who is an agent.
Arizona: Canada has been good to the Wildcats. Senior Shaina Pellington was the fifth-best international prospect coming out of high school, while freshman Lemyah Hylton was the best prospect beyond U.S. borders.
Numbers game
100 — Through Friday’s game, Arizona was averaging 100 points per game, the third-best mark in the nationa.
4 — Cate Reese only needs to start four more games to surpass Davellyn Whyte (126) for second place in UA history. Sam Thomas holds the career starts record with 151.
3 — Long Beach State was picked to finish third in the Big West conference in the preseason coaches’ poll.
