No. 18 Arizona Women’s Basketball stifles Loyola Marymount

TUCSON, AZ – Led by a strong effort from their starters No. 18 Arizona Women’s Basketball (3-0) dominated Loyola Marymount (1-3) 87-51.  

Fresh off of dominant wins over Northern Arizona and CSU Northridge, No. 18 Arizona Women’s Basketball returned to action inside McKale Center for another tune-up game against Loyola Marymount before heading to San Diego for the USD Thanksgiving Classic next week.

Taking on the visiting Lions, the Wildcats were fueled by a collective team effort in this one as three of Arizona’s starters finished in double-figures.

Shaina Pellington led the way offensively with 19 points on 7-9 shooting with three assists, a rebound, and a steal.

Next to Pellington were Cate Reese and Esmery Martinez who finished with 15 points and 14 points respectively, on a combined 9-15 shooting from the field.

Jumping out to a dominant first-half lead, No. 18 Arizona Women’s Basketball imposed their will as the Wildcats cruised to the 36-point win.

Despite LMU hanging tough for much of the first quarter, finally, the Wildcats began to find their rhythm late in the quarter.

Trailing 13-12 with 4:00 minutes to play, the Wildcats responded with an 11-0 run to close out the quarter and lead 23-13.

Continuing to stay aggressive, Arizona would continue their strong play in the second quarter as they used stifling defense and transition offense to grow their lead from 10 to 20. Arizona would outscore LMU in the second quarter 22-12 to lead 45-25.

Picking up right where they left off in the second half, the Wildcats would open the half on an 18-2 run to lead by as many as 36 with 3:50 to play in the third quarter.

Arizona would close out the quarter by being outscored 10-7, but luckily the Wildcats led comfortably at 70-37 after three quarters to play.

Using their deeper bench in the fourth quarter, Loyola Marymount would come back a bit in this one, but luckily, Arizona was able to close things out as the Wildcats outpaced the Lions 17-15 in the final quarter to come away with the 87-51 win.

With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 3-0 on the season, and No. 18 Arizona will resume basketball action on Sunday when they take on Long Beach State at home. Tip-off for Sunday’s game is slated at 2:00 PM MST.

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