Arizona Women’s Basketball upends No. 17 ASU in loud McKale

These Cats are for real! The Arizona Women’s Basketball team (11-1, 1-0) extended their winning streak to 10 games after beating No. 17 ASU (9-3, 0-1)!

Pack McKale! That’s what the Arizona Athletic Department was calling for this week as the Arizona Women’s Basketball team began conference play.

This year has a been a great start for the Wildcats. Going 10-1 to begin the year, Sunday afternoon was going to be a big test, as Arizona took on rival, No. 17 ASU inside McKale Center.

Arizona Wildcats

Largely led by guard Aari McDonald and freshman post player Cate Reese this season, we would finally get a good sense of what this team is capable of. Playing the likes of Incarnate Wood, Seattle, Portland and South Carolina State, Arizona hasn’t been challenged much to say the least.

However, head coach Adia Barnes was confident in her group in what they would show this season!

Coming out with 5,000+ strong inside McKale, the fans brought the energy the Wildcats were looking for! From the start, it was all Arizona as the Wildcats began the game on a 7-0 run!

However, slowly but surely, the Sun Devils would begin to climb back into this one, tying the game at 11-11 with a lay-up from Kiara Russell.

Luckily, Arizona was able to close out the first quarter on a 6-2 run, that gave them the lead at 17-13.

The second quarter was defintely a lower scoring affair. We wouldn’t get our first bucket until about five minutes in, when Dominique McBryde would convert on a lay-up to extend Arizona’s lead to 19-13.

Using a lock-down defense, the Wildcats would hold ASU just to seven points as they went into halftime up 27-20.

ASU would respond in the third quarter, opening up the half on a 5-3 run to pull within five points. That’s when Arizona would come alive, tightening up on defense, and holding ASU just to three points for the rest of the quarter.

A three-pointer by ASU’s Courtney Ekmark pulled the Sun Devils within eight, but after the bucket, the Wildcats still led 36-28 at the end of quarter three.

Hoping to finish out strong, the Wildcats would arguably play their best quarter of the game! The Sun Devils would respond early, pulling within seven.

However, Arizona’s resilience wouldn’t be denied as the Wildcats would continue to wear down the Devils. A lay-up by Sam Thomas would give Arizona their largest lead at 51-36 with 1:11 to play.

A three-pointer by ASU would cut into Arizona’s lead, but the Wildcats were able to use stifling defense to finish out the game strong, delivering the 51-39 upset over rival, ASU.

With the win, Arizona improves to 11-1 on the year and 1-0 in the Pac-12! The Wildcats will return to action on Friday, when they take on Colorado (10-2, 0-1) in Boulder, followed by Utah (12-0, 1-0) on Sunday.

At Zona Zealots, we’re proud of the way the Wildcats played, it seems like coach Barnes has this program on the rise and on the verge of turning the corner! Big things are happening in Tucson! Bear Down, Arizona!