Arizona finished its first regular season under Becky Burke with losses in all 10 road games. Utah beat Arizona 81-67 on Saturday in the final game of the regular season. Arizona finished the regular season with 12 wins and 17 losses overall and three victories and 15 losses in the Big XII.
Arizona is currently in 14th place in the Big XII standings. Central Florida plays Houston on Sunday. If Central Florida wins, they would tie Arizona and earn the 14th seed in the Big XII Tournament with a victory over the Wildcats on January in Tucson.
Burke had a challenging task entering his first season as a major college head coach. The entire 2025-26 Arizona roster was new, with Montaya Dew, the only returnee, not playing this season while recovering from a knee injury. The Wildcats lost leading scorer, Mickayla Purdue, with a season-ending injury after 15 games.
Sumayah Sugapong had a season high 31 points for Arizona in the loss at Utah. Sugapong made 12 out of 19 shots from the field, six of 10 three-point attempts and had two rebounds, three assists and three steals. Noelani Cornfield had 20 points and nine assists as the only other Arizona player in double figures.
Utah led 29-16 after the first quarter and extended the lead to 71-47 by outscoring Arizona 24-13 with in the third quarter. Arizona outscored Utah 20-10 in the fourth quarter but it was far too late. Utah scored the first six points on Saturday and never trailed.
Lani White led Utah with 19 points, Reese Ross scored 16, Maty Wilke scored 12 and LA Sneed finished with 11. Utah held its biggest lead, 71-45, with 1:25 left in the third quarter. The Utes shot 53.8 percent and made 11 of their 25 three-point attempts.
The game was sloppy, with Utah committing 21 turnovers and Arizona 19. Utah dominated inside by outscoring Arizona 34 to 18 on points in the paint. Utah led for 39:01 and the game was tied for only 50 seconds. Nora Francois and Daniah Trammell fouled out for Arizona.
Arizona will play its first game in the Big XII Tournament on Wednesday at either 4:30 PM Mountain Standard Time or 7:00 PM, depending on the outcome of UCF and Houston. The Big XII Tournament bracket will be finalized on Sunday with the conclusion of the regular season.