WILDCATS SWEEP
UA’s 9 3s, solid defense lead to another win over ASU
TUCSON – No. 18 Arizona women’s basketball hit nine 3-pointers Friday night and played its tradecoach mark stellar defense, defeating No. 16 Arizona State, 59-53.
UA completed its first season rivalry sweep since 2000 to the delight of the vast majority of the 10,160 in attendance at McKale Center. “It’s about damn time,” Wildcats Adia Barnes said. UA last won two straight overall over ASU in the 2003-04 seasons.
The Wildcats won the first meeting by an almost identical 58-53
Dec. 29 in Tempe.
Dominique McBryde’s corner 3pointer with 3:05 remaining was the back breaker for ASU, starting a 7-0 run that boosted the Wildcats to a 52-42 lead.
ASU rallied within four, 56-52, with 43.5 seconds left thanks to a pair of Robbi Ryan 3-pointers. UA’s Sam Thomas and ASU’s Eboni Walker exchanged making 1-of-2 free throws, taking the clock down to 16.3. Aari McDonald and Cate Reese scored the final two points for UA on free throws.
Junior guard Aari McDonald led UA with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Sam Thomas added 13 points and Amari Carter 11.
Senior guard Ryan led all scorers with a career high 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting, but no other Sun Devils reached double figures.
UA improved to 16-3, 5-3 Pac-12 with ASU dropping to 15-5, 5-3. The Sun Devils’ five-game win streak, longest in the Pac-12 starting the night, came to an end.
“You don’t steamroll your way through the Pac-12,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “Did we want to win this game? Yes. Did we have our best effort? No. Credit UA, they did a great job. They finished plays better than we finished plays at times. I give them a ton of credit for that.”
Turner Thorne was not happy with the officiating but limited her public criticism.
“I think they would tell you, they need to be tougher,” Turner Thorne said. “They got soft on some possessions and probably let some things bother them. Rightly so. It bothered me. A lot to overcome today, a lot.”
Ryan went 4-of-9 from 3-point, but her teammates were a combined 1-of-7 from long range.
“We need to clean up things offensively,” Ryan said. “I think we let the pressure bother us and didn’t control the things we could control. We let things bother us whether it’s calls or possessions that didn’t go our way.
“This game is always a huge game for us and for the school. We wanted it really bad for the rivalry and our coach and our fans.”
Arizona outscored ASU 17-6 over the final six minutes of the third quarter including a corner 3-pointer just before the buzzer by Amari Carter, who had eight points in the period.
The Sun Devils led 27-22 before the run and trailed 39-33 going into the fourth.
“We had some turnovers in that stretch and some defensive breakdowns,” Turner Thorne said. “We had some young players out there out of position and left people wide open. The seniors have been unbelievable. I sort of rode them tonight.”
UA had a 38-33 rebounding advantage, which both coaches felt was an important factor.
ASU freshman forward Walker pulled 10 boards and with nine points was one shy of her first double-double. She scored 12 points in the first UA game.
“They’re a really good team,” Walker said. “As I learned being here, you study each other and what someone likes to do the most. I feel the key is to just play basketball because everyone is going to try to predict what you’re going to do. We’ve just got to keep playing basketball.”
McDonald banks in bomb to close first half
The first half ended with McDonald banking in a shot from just across midcourt, cutting ASU’s lead to 23-20. The Wildcats got a second chance at executing in the final 2.2 seconds because of a timing mistake.