Arizona keeps NCAA bid hopes alive by edging UW 58-50 in first round of Pac-12 Tourney

Arizona wanted to bang that drum at least one more time after missing out at home to close out the regular season last week against USC and UCLA.

The Wildcats knew that to do that they had to go to back to Arizona basketball — that swarming, smothering defense — and rely on their two do-it-all fifth-year seniors, Helena Pueyo and Esmery Martinez.

The seventh-seeded Wildcats did exactly that in edging No. 10-seed Washington 58-50 in the first round of the Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament Wednesday night at MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

As for the aforementioned drum, it was Martinez who, postgame, walked over to the Arizona pep band and gave it a whirl. Then, she walked onto the Pac-12 set and banged the drum some more on live television.

“I love it; I like music,” Martinez said. “It brings me back home. That's why I did it. I was excited.”

The Wildcats hope Martinez can bang the drum again Thursday night. If so, that would mean Arizona won a quick rematch with second-seeded USC, set for 7 p.m. The Wildcats would like to avenge their 95-93 double overtime loss from just a week ago.

But Wednesday's win certainly keeps Arizona's goal of playing in the NCAA Tournament alive. 

Washington (16-14, 6-12), who is also considered an NCAA bubble team, is headed home to wait for Selection Sunday to see its fate.

This was the rubber match for these two teams. The Huskies took the first one in Seattle and the Wildcats snagged a triple-overtime win at home three weeks ago.

In Vegas Wednesday, Arizona led by nine with 5:26 to play, but Washington pulled within two at 52-50 with 1:15 to go. UA’s defense took over, however, corralling defensive rebounds, forcing a bad pass and benefiting from a pair of blocks by Pueyo. Martinez added her own key defensive play on a high inbounds play from Washington with 20 seconds left. She jumped and disrupted it just enough to have her opponent touch the ball before it fell off the court.

UW started fouling to extend the game and UA made 6 of 8 free throws to secure the win.

Both seniors scored 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field. Martinez added four assists, four rebounds and one steal.

Pueyo finished with five steals, four blocks and five assists.

“They call her the cookie monster (for her steals, which they call cookies), they should call her the stat eater because you look at her stats and you’re like, ‘Oh!’ Her stuff is always silent,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said of Pueyo. “She does everything. She doesn't turn the ball over a lot, is extremely efficient. She doesn't take a lot of shots and she scores points with limited shots, but that's what she does.

“She's finally getting her flowers this year," the coach added. But I've always said that she's one of the most underrated players in the country. And if you watch her and you know basketball, she's a very good basketball player.”

It took a while for Pueyo and UA’s defense to warm up Wednesday. In the second half, Pueyo collected four of five steals, all four blocks and scored 10 points (on 4 of 8 from the field). She picked a steal with under five minutes left in the third quarter and passed to Jada Williams close to the basket; Williams passed it back with defenders in the between them and Pueyo scored. This capped a run for the Wildcats making 4 of 5 field goals for a 37-33 lead.

The Wildcats’ defense was trapping, narrowing the passing lanes and altering shots. The UA forced 20 turnovers and scored 19 points off the takeaways.

“They just do a great job of switching aggressively and playing denial defense,” UW coach Tina Langley said. “If you slip or make your traditional read or you make your traditional reads, they use great athleticism and length to make it a little bit more difficult. I think we needed to play with a little better pace.”

Two Arizona freshmen scored in double figures: Skylar Jones finished with 11 points and Breya Cunningham chipped in 10 (4 of 9 from the field).

She said it

Barnes: “I told our players this is a new season and (I’m) just really proud how we came out and battled. Washington is a really good team. And they run their Princeton offense (which) is really hard to guard. Our players weren't too excited because they had to play defense for 30 seconds and that's rare in women's basketball. But they found a way to bear down and get a win. So, (I’m) proud of us and this young team to get a win in the postseason. It was really meaningful.”

Key moment

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Arizona took a 29-27 lead into halftime and outscored Washington 14-9 in the thrid frame as Pueyo turned it on scoring six points, had two assists on offense and picked three steals and had one block on the defensive end. Cunningham added four points on inside shots and two rebounds. Arizona pulls ahead by five points after Jones pulls down a defensive rebound passes to Martinez who passes back to a trailing Pueyo for the score with 1:14 left in the quarter. Arizona did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.

Stuffing the stat sheet

Cunningham: 7 rebounds, 1 block.

Williams: 2 steals, 2 assists.

Jones: 5 rebounds, 4 steals.

Courtney Blakely: 5 points, 1 steal.

The other side

Dalayah Daniels had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Elle Ladine added 10 points and had seven turnovers.

In the crowd

It was a pretty good night for Pueyo and Martinez to show out as they near the end of their college careers. At least one WNBA GM, Natalie Williams from the reigning back-to-back champion Las Vegas Aces, was in attendance. Williams was a standout at UCLA.

Aces star guard Kelsey Plum, who played at Washington and was recruited and coached by Barnes, was also in the stands.  

By the numbers

354: Pueyo now has 354 career assists.

3: Arizona forced three shot clock violations, a sure sign that the defense was on point.

40: Arizona scored 40 points in the paint; Washington only scored 20.

97: Pueyo hit another milestone, collecting 97 steals this year, which is an Arizona single-season record. 

Photos: (7) Arizona defeats (10) Washington 58-50 at Women's Pac-12 Basketball tournament