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)
Washington State G Johanna Teder (5-8 senior)
F Ula Motuga (6-1 senior)
C Bella Murekatete (6-3 senior)
G Charlisse Leger-Walker (5-10 junior)
G Tara Wallack (6-2 sophomore)
History of matchup
Arizonaβs record against WSU is 40-31. During Adia Barnesβ tenure as UA coach, she has gone 7-4. Last year in Tucson, the Wildcats won by eight, 60-52. They were ranked No. 4 in the country at that point and hadnβt played in three weeks because of COVID protocols. This night was extra special as former UA standout Aari McDonald was honored with her banner being raised into the Ring of Honor. It was also win No. 100 for Barnes, and the Wildcats improved to 11-0.
It wasnβt easy as the Cougars led by one at halftime. It took a 15-0 run at the end of the third quarter for Arizona to take command, including 3-pointers by Madi Conner, Sam Thomas and Helena Pueyo. Cate Reese also had a three-point play. However, WSU never gave up and pulled within two, 54-52, with less than a minute left. A technical on WSU coach Kamie Ethridge β giving Thomas three free throws β helped secure the win. Reese led all Wildcats with 20 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Pueyo chipped in 12 points and two blocks. Thomas had eight points, eight assists, six rebounds and one block.
The key matchup inside in the Arizona-Washington State game pits veteran bigs Cate Reese, left, and Bella Murekatete against each other.
Key players
WSU β Bella Murekatete
Murekatete was one of the Pac-12βs most improved players last season and has picked up right where she left off. Sheβs gone from averaging 10.2 points to 13.8. She collected 211 rebounds last year and is at 134 this season. Sheβs averaging just a tick per game above last season in rebounds β 7 to 7.1 β which puts her in 10th place in the Pac-12. She blocked 50 shots last year and has 27 so far.
Last season, Murekatete put up 27 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and three blocks in the two games against Arizona, including a 72-67 WSU victory on Feb. 20 in Pullman.
ARIZONA β Cate Reese
Reese helped the Wildcats wear down Washington on Friday night β just like old times. She overpowered her opponents by the final quarter and then dominated. She scored eight of her 15 points in the last 10 minutes and finished with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Itβs part of what made Reese an honorable-mention All-American last season and what puts her on all those best-power-forward watch lists year after year. With 1,775 total points, she is the Pac-12βs active career scoring leader.
She said it
βWe werenβt even in the conversation when I first got here for the Top 100 kids. Now, to be on multiple lists β weβre pretty much on every top kidβs final 10 or 20 list. To be in the hunt against Connecticut, Notre Dame, Louisville, South Carolina and be on the same list as (them) it does say a lot (about our program).
βTo get these caliber kids β¦ what it does is help you sustain success. Next year, having three great players β two McDonaldβs All-Americans (Breya Cunningham and Jada Williams), and the third really good player is here now (Montaya Dew) β itβs a ripple effect. Next year, hopefully you get some so it keeps you in the running.
βThen eventually you hopefully become like a Stanford (or) South Carolina, where they have like 12 or 14. I think Stanford has 12 McDonald All-Americans on the roster right now. Those are championship teams.
β(But) I donβt get caught up in all the titles because you need to mix in some really good role players and blue-collar, under-recruited (players). I like some of those kids.β
β UA coach Adia Barnes
Sidelines
Long flight: Charlisse Leger-Walker made the nearly 7,000-mile flight from her home in New Zealand to Arizona. It was the second time this season that Leger-Walker left the team for family reasons. The typical length of that flight is 14Β½ hours. You also cross the international date line. Which means that when you travel from the United States to New Zealand, you jump ahead a day. When you come back, you lose a day.
Leger-Walker played Friday night at Arizona State β her first game in 12 days β and finished with 12 points, two rebounds and three assists. She also made only 4 of 14 shots and had seven turnovers.
The junior ranks second in the Pac-12 in scoring at 20.1 points per game.
Former Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne is working as an analyst for Pac-12 Networks, and she's on the call for both games this weekend in Tucson.
Former foe on the call: Longtime former ASU coach and UA rival Charli Turner Thorne was on the call of Arizonaβs game for Pac-12 Networks on Friday night. If that sounds odd, it was.
In the first half, Turner Thorne had quite a few opportunities to share some insight into Jade Loville, who played for her last season, but didnβt go there .
It wasnβt until the third quarter when she said that Loville didnβt shoot 3-pointers at Boise State. At ASU, βShe worked on it. We worked on it.β Loville made 26 3s in three years at Boise State. She made 39 last season and has 35 as a Wildcat with nine games left on the Pac-12 schedule plus postseason.
Turner Thorne did heap lots of praise on Pueyo, saying that she is on her list for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and that she is a βrenaissance womanβ and that βthereβs nothing she canβt do.β
Arizona celebrated Pueyo crossing 200 assists at McKale Center Friday night by giving her a ball to commemorate the occasion. She dished No. 200 on Jan. 6 against Oregon State. Pueyo now has 216 assists.
Turner Thorne is slated to call the WSU-UA game as well.
Added to the Ring: During Friday nightβs broadcast, a new banner was shown for the womenβs basketball Ring of Honor. The latest to join the class of Barnes, Aari McDonald, Shawntinice Polk, Davellyn Whyte, Ify Ibekwe and Dee Dee Wheeler is Kirsten Smith Cambron, who played at the UA from 1982-1986.
Smith Cambron went Los Angeles Bishop Alemany with Thorne. Smith Cambron is being inducted for the distinction of being a trailblazer as the programβs first-ever 1,000-point scorer.
She cracked that mark in 1985, before the 3-point shot had been introduced to college basketball. Smith Cambron is also all over the UA record books, including being in second place for free-throw percentage in a single season (89.3) in 1986 and tied for second for average minutes played in a single season (37.3), also in β86.
In the final two seasons of her career (1985 and 1986), Smith Cambron averaged 13.5 points in 54 games played.
No date has been set for the official induction.
Tightening up: If you thought that Friday nightβs game was called tight by the refs, it was. Earlier in the week Pac-12 officials were told to focus on hand-checks and to make sure players donβt move their pivot foot. All league games will be called much tighter on these actions from here on out.
Fun facts
Arizona: Conner is shooting 97% from the charity stripe. She has missed only one free throw all season (28 of 29) β¦ Martinez has pulled down 177 rebounds, with 71 of them coming off the offensive glass, which leads the Pac-12.
WSU: Leger-Walker was the youngest player ever for the New Zealand womenβs national basketball team, starting at 16 years old β¦ Murekatete is the first Rwandan-born woman to play Division I basketball.
Numbers game
7 β Arizona has made seven 3-pointers in transition in the last two games β five against ASU and two against UW.
5 β All five starters for WSU were born in different countries: Canada (Wallack), New Zealand (Leger-Walker), Rwanda (Murekatete), Australia (Motuga) and Estonia (Teder).
62 β The Wildcats have been ranked in APβs Top 25 for 62 consecutive weeks going back to Nov. 25, 2019, when they appeared at No. 24 after beating No. 22-ranked Texas, 83-58, the week before.
