After Arizona’s loss to New Mexico on Dec. 7, Wildcats coach Becky Burke emphasized a critical point to her undersized and sometimes overmatched team: “Everything matters.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean every player has to be good at everything for Arizona women's basketball to win.
Guards Mickayla Perdue and Tanyuel Welch filled specific roles that suit their skill sets in Wednesday’s victory over Eastern Kentucky.
Perdue did what she does best — score in bunches. The transfer from Cleveland State totaled 27 points, the third time this season she has notched 27 or more.
Welch tied her career high with 11 rebounds. The transfer from Memphis has had seven or more rebounds three times this season, including each of the past two games.
Perdue hit 11 of 18 shots, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range, against Eastern Kentucky. That performance followed her worst outing of the season — 1 of 9 for five points against New Mexico.
Arizona guard Mickayla Perdue (0) makes a run at the basket as Eastern Kentucky guard Kenleigh Woods (10) gets around the screen of Arizona forward Blessing Adebanjo (14) in the first half at McKale Center on Dec. 10, 2025.
Burke, whose team plays its penultimate nonconference game Monday night vs. Chicago State, noticed that Perdue was fading away on her jump shot. She worked to correct the issue in practice.
“I focused more on getting my feet under me and just holding that form,” Perdue said after the Eastern Kentucky game. “It worked well for me. I was shooting good in practice this week, and I felt like it was going to be a good day today. And it was.”
Perdue leads Arizona in scoring at 17.2 points per game. She’s one of three Wildcats who average in double figures, along with guard Noelani Cornfield (14.1) and forward Daniah Trammell (12.4). The next-highest scorer on the team, guard Sumayah Sugapong, averages 6.7 points per game.
“There’s gonna be very few nights where Micky can go 1 for 9 and we beat a good, quality basketball team,” Burke said. “I'm not saying she needs to have 30 every night. But we rely on her, and I think she likes that. And when she's getting good looks, I believe they're going in when it leaves her hands.
Arizona guard Tanyuel Welch (11) fights for a loose ball against a Southern University defender, Dec. 3, 2025, at McKale Center.
“There's more games where she's making shots versus the situation we had the other night. But it happens. She's human. I think she puts a tremendous amount of pressure on herself, as well, to score and to make shots when needed.”
Welch illustrated vs. Eastern Kentucky how a player can positively impact a game without shooting well from the floor.
Welch made just 3 of 9 shots for seven points. But her 11 rebounds were a team high, and she drew rave reviews for her defense after the game.
“‘T’ gives us length and athleticism on the perimeter that we are going to be relying on heavily from this point forward,” Burke said of Welch, who’s listed at 5-foot-10. “Her ability to maybe take a bad angle and make up for it because she's so dang athletic ... I tell her all the time: I would never be as athletic as her in 10 lifetimes. But to be able to cover ground and make up for mistakes and do some of the things from an athleticism standpoint that she does ...
“I think now what's coming along for T is learning when to be solid, when to chill out for a second and when to be aggressive, because there's a time and place for both. Whereas I think at the beginning of the season, she was just trying to be aggressive at all times, and sometimes it was costing us on the back side of things.”
Arizona guard Mickayla Perdue (0) tries to break through the defense of multiple Eastern Kentucky players in the second half at McKale Center on Dec. 10, 2025. Arizona won 87-83.
Welch believes she has come a long way when it comes to playing team defense. With her quickness and aggressive approach, on-ball defense has never been a problem.
“I struggled as far as being off the ball and helping my teammates,” Welch said. “I feel like I’ve really improved in that over time.”
Rebounding is part of that, too. Sixteen of Welch’s 18 boards in the past two games have come on the defensive end.
Even if she doesn’t score herself, Welch knows she can help set up the offense by securing rebounds.
“I play both sides of the ball,” she said. “If one thing's not going my way, I make up for it in another category. So (if) I'm not hitting shots, I'm going to crash the boards as hard as I can, start the transition and make sure my teammates are getting open.”
Burke attributed Welch’s rebounding prowess to two factors: the “pogo sticks” in her legs and her desire to do it.
Arizona guard Tanyuel Welch (11) gets the shot off against New Mexico forward Emma Najjuma (23) during their game at McKale Center, Dec. 7, 2025.
“Tany casually just touches rim every practice,” Cornfield said. “Just casually jumps up there. We’re like, ‘OK, Tany, come back down.’”
“The kid loves the weight room,” Burke added. “She puts in the work, too. Sure, the genetics are a huge factor. But it's not for lack of work and work ethic. She's an elite athlete, for sure. And (she has) a want-to and a will and a competitive nature.”
Rim shots
– Perdue was charged with an intentional foul late in the second quarter vs. EKU when she grabbed a rebound and swung her elbow into the chest of a Colonels player. “Sometimes the ‘dawg’ just comes out a little too aggressive,” Perdue said. “Sometimes I need to tone it back a little bit. But I apologized to the ref and told him it was just one of those things. I'm just playing hard really.”
– The Wildcats at times have had trouble hanging onto leads. EKU nearly erased Arizona’s 12-point advantage in the fourth quarter before the Cats hung on for a four-point win. “I feel like we can get lackadaisical, in a way, and other teams are not going to quit, no matter the lead,” Welch said. “They’re gonna keep pushing. We gotta keep pushing, as well.”
– Chicago State lost 81-62 at Fresno State on Saturday night to fall to 1-9. The Cougars entered Saturday with a NET ranking of 335 (out of 363 teams). The Wildcats won last year's meeting 84-48 in Chicago.
