LOS ANGELES — No. 18-ranked Arizona knew an intense afternoon awaited it at Pauley Pavilion against No. 10 UCLA on Sunday.
The last time these two teams met at the end of January 2019 in Tucson, they battled into three overtimes until UCLA pulled it out.
This time, after playing to a 31-31 tie at halftime, the Bruins controlled the third quarter and cruised to a 70-58 victory.
UA’s 19-game winning streak was snapped, as the Wildcats fell to 13-1 overall on the year and 2-1 in Pac-12 play.
UCLA improves to 14-0, 3-0. Both teams are off to the best starts in program history.
There are now four undefeated teams in the country: No. 1 UConn, No. 3 Oregon State (which UA hosts Friday), No. 9 NC State and UCLA.
Arizona’s Aari McDonald led all scorers with 19 points. She added seven rebounds, two steals and six assists to the stat sheet. Cate Reese, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week, scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds, had one block and two steals. Sam Thomas finished with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Arizona’s long win streak dated back to last year’s WNIT Championship run. UA Adia Barnes was happy to go home with a split this weekend — UA won by eight at USC on Friday — as she knows how difficult it is to win in the Pac-12.
“We know that you can’t get too high or too low in this conference,” she said. “And this is the best conference in the country. We’re playing seven games against top-10 teams, so our schedule is brutal.
“But if you can go on the road and get a split and you can take care of business at home you’re sitting in a good situation. So, nothing to lose. We’re going to be able to play UCLA at home. And they’re a really good team. The third quarter just crushed us.”
In that third quarter — where UCLA outscored UA 28-13 — it was the Bruins who came out locked in and started hitting 3-pointers.
They shot 9 of 18 in the quarter and they came in all ways. On one possession Arizona — one of the top defenses in the country — thought it had forced a shot clock violation, but UCLA coolly knocked down the shot.
“When someone has a last-second shot it’s like, well, it’s just it’s just one of those days where they’re just going to hit shots like that,” Thomas said. “It’s obviously frustrating.”
The Wildcats didn’t give up no matter what the Bruins threw at them. They kept battling, whether it was altering shots or narrowing the passing lanes.
“We’re trying to come together as a team and just chip away and believe,” Thomas said. “We know one shot is not going to get us 15 points back at once. We were trying to chip away little by little. I was trying to be aggressive and help my team out.”
So aggressive that on one possession, Thomas kept diving after her own offensive rebounds to give her team a second and then third chance. The third time was a charm as teammate Tara Manumaleuga knocked down a 3-pointer to close the gap to 13 with 2:34 left in the game.
With Thomas’ two 3-pointers she has made 107 in her career in 81 games — moving her to 10th in UA history. She jumped ahead of Monika Crank (106).
The Wildcats would outscore the Bruins in the last quarter 14-11, but it wasn’t enough.
UCLA coach Cori Close, who earlier in the week said it would be a team effort to contain McDonald, was happy that they limited her to 19 points.
“That’s a heck of an assignment when you’re really pleased that you hold someone to — what did she have tonight — 19?” Close said. “But she’s just that good, right? She’s just such a creative score. Her conditioning is marvelous. I watch her on film and I keep waiting for her to slow down and she just never does.”
“And I think what really goes to — maybe it’s not talked about as much with her — is her defensive prowess. How hard she works on the defensive end..”
It was a fast and furious first half leading to a 31-31 tie.
The Wildcats closed it out on a 9-2 run — with Amari Carter scoring eight of the nine. During the run the defense played at another level with McDonald collecting a steal and Mara Mote popping the ball free from a Bruin to snare another one.
Reese was altering shots — even on what looked like an easy drive by Lindsey Corsaro — she was in the right position to force the miss. Reese also pulled down a big rebound.
McDonald etched another double-figure game on her steal and fast break — her 51st consecutive game.
Arizona also had a run at the end of the first quarter — this time 8-0 — that was capped by a 3 from the top of the key from Thomas to give UA a 17-14 lead.
Arizona hosts No. 3 Oregon State on Friday at 8 p.m. and No. 2 Oregon at noon Sunday at McKale Center.
Rim shots
• UCLA out-rebounded UA 47-33.
• Arizona uncharacteristically got into foul trouble. Two Wildcats fouled out — Semaj Smith and Thomas.
• In the first half, UCLA was sent to the line 13 times to only two for Arizona. While UA was 100% from the line in the game it came on only seven attempts. UCLA was 11 of 23.
