Shaina Pellington: The Most Important Cog for Another March Run

When you shock the world and create great expectations, unfortunately, that brings out the bandwagon fan(s) who can become hateful and hurtful, and no one has faced such scrutiny in the short term as Shaina Pellington.

Watching the Arizona Women’s Basketball program succeed these past few years, expectations have also soared to unprecedented heights following a Cinderella-like run to the National Championship Game last year. Naturally, so have the critiques from self-proclaimed “experts”, also known as bandwagon fans.

Following a tough loss to Arizona State on Friday night, these so-called experts came after one of the most important pieces of that comeback in Tempe, Shaina Pellington. She was a big reason the Wildcats had a chance to even win the game.

For some reason after putting up 30 points and dishing five assists in a game against their biggest rivals, the Twitter Warriors, arm-chair coaches, or whatever you want to call them, came out in full force against the Wildcats guard in an incredibly disrespectful manner. And one that I feel assuredly in saying does not represent ANY of the Wildcats fans who truly care for the program.

Coming off her very spirited performance against Arizona State where she shot 9-of-16 from the field while also chipping in 12 free throws for a total of 30 points on the night, Shaina was limited on Sunday to just three points while shooting 1-3 from the field and adding a free throw in just 19 minutes.

While production was not all that necessary, with Madi Conner having a career day for the Wildcats, it still feels a bit odd seeing Pellington with so few attempts for someone who’s averaging 14.8 points per game in Pac-12 play.

A deep Arizona Women’s Basketball run in March Madness requires Shain Pellington to be in top form.

One thing that is for certain is that the Wildcats will need leadership from the Point Guard position come tournament time if they hope to reach Minneapolis and the Final Four for the second straight season, that’s where Arizona will need to turn to Shaina Pellington.

Pellington has seemingly turned it up when the going gets tough to help lift the Wildcats through a rut, and with the competition ramping up the rest of the season, the PAC-12 and NCAA Tournaments will provide more options for her to show up and stand out.

One thing that I am comfortable in saying is that as long as she’s a Wildcat, I look forward to watching Pellington bounce back and return to form of being the conductor of the Wildcats’ offense as they prepare for hopefully another long run in the NCAA Tournament. As always, Bear Down, Arizona.