With Cate Reese out due to injury, the Arizona Women’s Basketball team will have to step up in a major way as the Wildcats deal with her absence.
The Arizona Women’s Basketball team has a real challenge laid out before them. Cate Reese’s separated shoulder takes a big chunk out of the team both offensively and defensively as Reese has played in every game, is second on the team in scoring, and is the leading rebounder.
Coach Adia Barnes is aware of the potential effect the loss could have on the team and she has challenged her players to step up and fill the void left by Reese’s injury.
Forwards Lauren Ware, Ariyah Copeland, and guard Helena Pueyo may be looked at to take up the slack.
Playing the last two home games against the LA schools
Writing in the Arizona Daily Star, PJ Brown highlights the challenge of the last few games before the Pac-12 tournament. Next up are the UCLA Bruins and though they are a .500 team this year, everyone in the Pac-12 can be dangerous. On Saturday, they play the last home game of the regular season against USC at noon.
According to Brown, Coach Barnes believes the effort the Cats display in these next few games will carry over into the Pac-12 Tournament and the subsequent NCAA games.
The charm of McKale
Perhaps fortunately for the Lady Cats, the game is at McKale at 7:00 P.M., so a good crowd tonight (hint, hint, wink, wink) and Saturday would certainly help bolster the effort. The Lady Cats currently rank fifth in the nation in women’s basketball attendance. Two good crowds this week would only enhance that impressive number.
After the loss to Washington State last week the Cats dropped to 12th in the polls, still not bad for a team who lost one of the greatest players in the history of Arizona Women’s basketball, Aari McDonald, at the end of last year. Still, they will need to be focused and cooperative to continue to succeed if Reese is out very long.