TUCSON, AZ – In front of another energized crowd on Friday evening, the Arizona Women’s Basketball took to the court, routing the No. 8 UCLA Bruins.
Tucson is a basketball town, and the No. 16 Arizona Women’s Basketball team has surely been proving it, as they are now winners of four-straight, including back-to-back wins against ranked opponents.
On Friday night, Arizona took to the court again, this time with a big challenge in No. 8 UCLA. Well, after 40 minutes played, it was clear the Wildcats were ready, completely dismantling the Bruins by a 92-66 final!
Arizona Wildcats
Aari McDonald finished with a game high 27 points on 10-15 shooting, meanwhile Sam Thomas added with 20 of her own, even going a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc.
However if you may recall, the last time these two teams met, the game went very differently. The Wildcats got beat by 12 on the road by the Bruins, and my what a difference home court and a couple of weeks make!
Arizona came out strong in this one, completely dominating the tempo, even opening the game on a 23-8 run before ending the first quarter, clinging to a 27-16 lead.
The second quarter wouldn’t go much better for the Bruins either, especially as the Wildcats were continuing to hit shots, and play stifling defense!
UCLA would cut Arizona’s lead to just 10, making it 30-20 with 8:31 to go in the half, but that’s as close as it would get for them, as the Cats would end the quarter by outscoring UCLA 17-12 to take a commanding, 47-32 lead at the half!
Looking for another strong 20 minutes of basketball, Arizona would respond in the second half in a big way by extending their 15-point lead all the way to as many as 26, before ending the quarter by leading the Bruins 70-48.
With the game surely in hand heading into the fourth and final quarter, Arizona wouldn’t let off the gas, continuing to score at a high rate. For another quarter the Wildcats would outscore the Bruins again, ultimately pacing themselves to the 92-66 win to improve to 17-3 (6-3) on the season!
The win is also Arizona’s first win over a Top 10 team since 2004, and will have the next day off before returning to action on Sunday against USC (11-9, 3-6).
Relive the highlights from that game here!
At Zona Zealots, we’re excited for our Cats and hope they can complete the sweep this weekend! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!