Arizona women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes has said it all season long: Her Wildcats would surprise teams in the Pac-12 this season.
The Wildcats did just that Sunday, although they couldn’t quite finish the upset of No. 23 Cal at McKale Center.
Sammy Fatkin’s three-point attempt in the final seconds was tipped by a Cal player, and the Golden Bears escaped with a 53-51 win over the Wildcats.
Senior JaLea Bennett, who finished with 13 points, took the blame for the loss after the last possession failed.
“I’m a little upset right now,” said Bennett. “To be honest I need to be more aware. I am upset with myself; I didn’t know there were only eight seconds left. We have to be more aware of the clock. Although, I am proud of my team. It was a tight game and each game we are getting better and better. We were undersized today and didn’t get blown out on the boards.”
Cal outrebounded Arizona 36-35.
The Bears were coming off two losses to No. 11 UCLA and No. 25 Arizona State is now 11-4 and 2-2 Pac-12. Arizona falls to 4-11, 0-4 in Pac-12. UA visits No. 9 Oregon on Friday night.
The Wildcats took a 26-21 lead into halftime, by using a tight defense and stopping Cal’s top player, Kristine Anigwe. Every time she got the ball down low, a Wildcat or two was there to force her out of position.
“In the first half we crowded her and had bodies on her (Anigwe),” said Barnes. “We weren’t as disciplined in the second half. Overall, we battled and got big offensive rebounds, which are signs of growth. We didn’t see that with Stanford.
“I feel good about our fight, our rebounding effort. Lots of positives, but the negative is that we didn’t come out with a win.”
The second quarter is when the Wildcats made a run, outscoring Cal 18-7. Everyone got in on the scoring. Sam Thomas, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, started it off with a three, followed by a tight pass from JaLea Bennett to Kat Wright who drove and made a basket over Anigwe to cut Cal’s lead to two. Lucia Alonso followed with a three and Destiny Graham added a basket to give the Wildcats their first lead at 19-18.
In the third quarter UA’s lead increased to 10, but with 4:54 left in the quarter things changed. Cal employed a press and Mikayla Cowling’s shots started falling, as the Bears went on a 12-0 run to catch the Wildcats. With less than a minute left in the quarter, Cowling hit her third consecutive three to give Cal a 38-35 lead.
“We were down at the half and Coach Lindsey said to me to ‘step up,” said Cowling, who led all scorers with 19 points. “I started knocking them down. Our press is intense and we are a long team and we wanted to take advantage of that.”
And they did. Cal led by one, 38-37 at the end of three and extended the lead to nine until the Wildcats came storming back with less than six minutes to go in the game. UA would hold Cal to three points over that stretch.
“This gives us confidence, but the hard thing is we aren’t getting over the hump,” said Barnes. “To see a team we should have beat, a ranked team … we have a lot to build on to continue to get better.”
Rim shots
The University of Arizona Athletics Department and the A Club are holding an Arizona Women’s Basketball Reunion Feb. 2-4. There will be a Welcome Reception on Friday before the game against Washington State. All women’s basketball alumni will be recognized at halftime of the game. On Saturday, there will be a tour of Arizona Athletics and a reunion dinner hosted by Barnes. On Sunday the Wildcats play Washington at noon.
For more information contact the A-Club office at (520) 621-0881, the Special Events Office at (520) 621-2331, or email the event coordinator, Natasha Harrison at naharris@arizona.edu.
