Arizona Basketball: Wildcats win WNIT Championship in front of sellout crowd

The Arizona Wildcats Women’s basketball team are your 2018-19 WNIT Champions! Arizona Basketball is back in the national spotlight.

WNIT Champions!! No better feeling then winning the last game of the season, especially in front of a sellout crowd inside McKale Center. 14,644 Arizona Wildcat fans made their voices heard and played the sixth man role to perfection, helping Arizona basketball to victory. The Wildcats started out on fire, with Aari McDonald helping the team out to a 7-0 lead early. The rest of the starters and supporting staff showed up to play as well, helping the team to the very end. They would go onto win the 2018-19 WNIT Championship 56-42!

Incredible turnaround. From only winning six games last season to winning 24 the following season and the WNIT Championship, unreal. Each opponent they faced in the WNIT gave everything they had, but wasn’t enough for the win. Northwestern was the latest victim and wasn’t able to put together enough runs or stops to come away with the championship.

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The Wildcats reasons for success come from their tenacious defense and the leadership of McDonald. They forced Northwestern to shoot 27% from the field – that’s good defense! Plus, they caused 18 turnovers, which lead to 18 points off of turnovers. Zone defense, double and triple team and even full court press, head coach Adia Barnes mixed it up well.

For her efforts, McDonald was awarded the tournament MVP, which is no surprise. In the championship game she continued her grittiness on both ends of the floor. McDonald finished with a stat line of 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists. She played like a true leader, which got McKale Center rockin!

One of her biggest assets is her quickness. As she continues to get stronger and get more experience playing in high pressure situations, McDonald will be that much more of a multi-dimensional threat for this team.

Cate Reese also had a big day! She would go onto to finish with 13 points, nine rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block. Scary to think she is only a freshman. By the time she is a senior, watch out! Reese does not get intimated at all and fights on every play.

Senior Tee Tee Starks was the third Wildcat in double figure scoring with 12 points and five rebounds. She came up huge knocking down a couple clutch three pointers to prevent Northwestern from getting back into this one.  The closest they would get is within two points early in the second quarter, but could never tie or take the lead.

The major factor in today’s game were the fans. They showed up! Selling out McKale Center, in April for the WNIT Championship game, that says so much. They also helped energize this team through some low points during the game. I don’t care who you are, playing in front of a sellout crowd of 14,644 is going to get you hyped! On the flipside, as an opponent it makes it difficult to communicate when it’s that loud.

This crowd size was a new Pac-12 record and fourth largest in WNIT history. Wildcat fans need to continue this into next season and fill those seats! As Barnes as mentioned before, the fan support is crucial to this team’s success and they delivered! Also, the support this program received from all over was incredible. Former players and coaches from all sports shared their support for this team all over social media. Love that!

The Wildcats have now won the WNIT Tournament twice, both with Barnes as a participant (once as a player in 1996 and now as a coach in 2019). Winning the WNIT does so much for this program on so many levels going forward. It helps them prepare for the pressure of postseason basketball, increases the fan base, and gives them the confidence they needed knowing they can compete for a championship.

At Zona Zealots, we would to congratulate the Arizona Women’s Basketball team on becoming the WNIT Champions! This season saw many exciting moments. From a 11 game winning streak, to beating Arizona State at home to now cutting down the nets inside McKale Center. Way to ladies! Bear Down, Arizona!