Arizona women fall to hot-shooting Iowa State, remain winless at home in Big 12 play

The Arizona women’s basketball team entered Saturday’s game vs. Iowa State in an unfamiliar place.

The Wildcats were undefeated on the road — and winless at home — in conference play.

In an effort to change their luck, the Cats wore their alternate gray uniforms for the “Dark Mode” game at McKale Center. The visiting Cyclones wore their home whites.

It didn’t make a difference.

Iowa State defeated Arizona 79-58, handing the Wildcats their third consecutive loss at McKale and their fourth in 11 home games this season.

Arizona isn’t used to getting swept at home; it happened only once last year, vs. USC and UCLA at the end of the regular season. The Wildcats went 10-5 at home last season. They lost no more than three home games in any of the previous four seasons.

“I think we played some better teams at home,” UA coach Adia Barnes said. “Baylor’s a lot stronger at this point than BYU and UCF. And then when these teams have these dominant post players, we have a hard time.”

Much of the focus entering Saturday was on the post matchup between sophomores Audi Crooks of Iowa State and Breya Cunningham of Arizona. Crooks was averaging a Big 12-best 23.0 points per game. Cunningham paced the Wildcats in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocks.

With Cunningham guarding her most of the time, Crooks scored a season-low 11 points. Crooks’ six field goal attempts were also her fewest. Cunningham blocked Crooks twice and forced jump balls on two other occasions.

But Crooks didn’t force the issue, and all the attention paid to her left other Cyclones open. Junior guard Sydney Harris had a game- and season-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range.

“What really hurt us is that Audi Crooks demands a lot of attention inside, and that made us really out of position on the weak side,” Barnes said. “Some of that was Lauryn (Swann) as a freshman being out of position. She gave up a lot of 3s on the back side.

“We showed her some clips on the bench. Just teaching her to be on line with the ball. If you’re so low, you can’t get there. We continue to make that mistake, and that really hurt us.”

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Iowa State shot 53.7% from the field, the highest mark by a UA opponent this season.

Cunningham finished with seven points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 2:47 to play. Sophomore guard Jada Williams had a team-high 17 points. She was the lone Wildcat to score in double figures.

“Breya (played) 32 minutes, banging. Paying 32 minutes isn’t easy. And then we have Jada (with) 34. It’s a lot,” Barnes said. “Ideally I’d like to get them down to around 30. But then who else is going to step up off the bench and be able to take some of those minutes where we can try to win games? That’s the question right now.

“It’s hard. It’s hard when you have people out or suspended. That’s not ideal. But it is what it is, and other people have to step up.”

For the second game in a row, Arizona had to dig out of a double-digit deficit. The Wildcats had it down to four 2:38 into the second half on a Cunningham bank shot and had a chance to trim ISU’s lead to two after a miss at the other end. But after a sweet crossover, Swann missed a scooping layup. The Cyclones then went on a 12-0 run and led 54-38 at the end of the third quarter.

Williams’ 3-pointer made it 59-48 with 7:04 to play, but that was the closest Arizona would get.

The Wildcats finished the first half with a needed flourish, outscoring the Cyclones 15-2 over the final 3:04 to trim a 32-13 deficit to 34-28. The run began and ended with 3-point baskets by Swann — including a half-court heave at the buzzer.

Arizona’s backcourt tandem of Swann (nine) and Williams (10) combined for 19 first-half points. Cunningham had all eight of her rebounds and three assists in the first half but missed all four shots she took from the floor.

Crooks scored all six of her first-half points in the second period. Harris paced the Cyclones in the first half with 10 points.

Arizona trailed 15-6 at the end of the first quarter despite Crooks having zero points and only one field goal attempt. The Wildcats shot just 2 of 13 in the quarter, including 1 of 10 inside the 3-point arc.

Rim shots

Photos: Iowa State wins 79-58 over Arizona at the McKale Center, women's college basketball