Jada Williams' monster 4th quarter keys Arizona to 68-61 upset of No. 3 Stanford

It was a long time coming.

It's been twenty-three years since Arizona won at Maples Pavilion — well before freshman Jada Williams was born.

For Williams, however, her performance Friday was more about making a statement win in the Wildcats' final appearance at Stanford as a league opponent.

She did just that, scoring 14 of her 23 points in the last four minutes of the game to lead the Wildcats in upsetting the No. 3 Cardinal, 68-61, Friday night at Stanford.

The win helps the Wildcats' bid for a spot in the NCAA Tournament as they improve to 15-12 overall and 7-8 in Pac-12 play. Stanford, which could have clinched a share of the Pac-12 regular season title if the Cardinal had won twice this weekend, is now 23-4 overall and 12-3 in conference games.

This is the highest-ranked road opponent Arizona has ever defeated and the fifth win over a team ranked in the AP Top-5 in program history.

It is also the first time UA coach Adia Barnes has won in Maples Pavilion as a player or a coach.

“It feels big, but I think it feels big to get a win on the road first in our conference because any road win is huge. It’s hard to win,” Barnes said. “I think it just was better because they're a really good team with or without Cameron (Brink, who was out with a non-Covid illness). I think without her they're still really good. And then I think for us it's a good win if we're putting ourselves in a good situation to try to make the tournament.”

Williams, who tied a career-high in scoring (she also had 23 points against Oregon on Jan. 14) took some time to warm up on the offensive end. Shots just weren’t falling until, then, nearly everything went in except a lone pesky free throw with eight seconds left. But, by that time, the Wildcats were up by six points and had secured the victory.

At one point in those waning minutes — in the midst of Williams knocking down three 3-pointers, one 2-pointer and 3-of-4 free throw attempts, all in the game's final 3:18 — Williams got slammed to the ground by Stanford’s Talana Lepolo. It took a moment for Williams to get up and walk it off; yet, naturally, when play started again, she knocked down another shot.

“She’s a dog; she’s tough; she has heart,” Barnes said. “Even when she's not shooting the ball well she’s propelling our team and helping us win. Then she hit big shots when we need it.”

Stanford took an early 17-9 lead into the second quarter and a 30-25 lead into the half. The Cardinal took leads of up to 10 — even early in the fourth quarter held a nine-point lead with 3:59 to play.

But the Wildcats kept fighting back.

Despite Kiki Iriafen getting a double-double (21 points, 15 rebounds) and Hannah Jump scoring 13 points (including a few early 3-pointers), the Wildcat defense was swarming. Arizona was trapping at the right time, narrowing the passes lanes and altering shots.

Arizona disrupted Stanford’s offense holding the Cardinal well under their scoring average of 79 points and scoring more than what the Cardinal usually gives up — 58 points.

The Wildcats forced 18 turnovers, scoring 16 points off of the takeaways. Stanford averages 12.8 turnovers per game.

The UA defense locked down even more in the last 3:40 of the game, outscoring Stanford 19-3.

Esmery Martinez was one rebound shy of a double-double finishing with 17 points and nine boards.

While Stanford was without Brink — the All-American went for 25 points and 20 rebounds in the Cardinal's blowout win over the Wildcats in Tucson last month — Arizona was playing once again with only seven players as Kailyn Gilbert did not make the trip to the Bay Area. Barnes said after the game that Gilbert was in concussion protocol after taking a hard hit in practice.

Including Friday, Gilbert has missed four of the Wildcats' last eight games — the other three for undisclosed reasons. Barnes said Gilbert will be evaluated next week.

She said it

Williams on the win: “We believed that we could walk in their house and win. We had seven people. We’re playing together. We're playing as sisters and I couldn't ask for anything more — coaches are on board. This wasn't about me tonight. This was about winning for my team and all that adversity we've been through this season. A lot of people thought we were going to bow down because we have seven people, we’ve got a lot of adversity going on — got people hurt, people quit. Honestly, I just came out here and helped my team win this game.

“My team came out, we battled. They have a lot of really, really good players. We just knew that we had to come in here and we had to be gritty. We had to do all the little things.”

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Key moment

UA out scored Stanford 31-16 in the fourth quarter, but that final four minutes of the game that stands out. The Cardinal was up by nine points and Williams and company went to work. Martinez was fouled and knocked down both free throws. Williams picked a steal and knocks down a 3-pointer. She grabbed a defensive rebound and stepped back for another one from distance. Helena Pueyo chipped in yet another steal and passed to Courtney Blakely for the layup to tie it at 59-59. With just under two minutes left, Williams nailed a jumper to give UA a quick lead. After giving up a layup to Iriafen, Williams hit yet another 3-pointer giving UA a 64-61 lead with 30 seconds left. Williams made 3 of 4 free throws and Pueyo added one more for the seven-point win.

Stuffing the stat sheet

Pueyo: 9 points, 5 steals, 5 assists, 5 rebounds.

Isis Beh: 6 rebounds (4 offensive), 3 assists.

Williams: 2 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals.

Breya Cunningham: 7 points, 2 blocks.

By the numbers

31: Both UA and Stanford had 31 rebounds. The Wildcats had more offensive boards (14) than the Cardinal (9).

1:28: Arizona held the lead just 1:28, taking its first lead inside two minutes to play.

61: Stanford only shot 61% from the free throw line (11 of 18), while UA shot 71% (12 of 17).

Photos: Jada Williams, Arizona upsets No. 3 Stanford 68-61, Pac-12 women's college basketball