Arizona played its second and final exhibition game Wednesday night at McKale Center where they defeated Cal State Los Angeles, 104-46.

The Wildcats' defense showed out early holding the Golden Eagles to just 13 first-half points on 20% shooting from the field and forcing 17 turnovers. Arizona made just about every offensive possession uncomfortable for Cal State LA.

Helena Pueyo found herself in the action early on both sides of the floor, hitting three shots from deep early while also recording four of the Wildcats 11 first-half steals. She finished with 15 points, seven assists and five steals.

"Helena can do this every game and this is my expectation for her," UA head coach Adia Barnes said. "Maybe she won't be 6 for 8 every game, but she is capable. I just said she took eight shots, a lot of times it is hard to get her to take eight shots. I thought she was intentional about shooting when she was open and that's what she has to do for our team."

The selflessness of the entire team was evident Wednesday night as the Wildcats finished with 19 assists as a team.

"I really like to play for the team," Pueyo said. "I really like to pass the ball and make my team run."

After dropping 20 points in the Wildcats' first exhibition game, Jade Loville topped that performance with 26 points against Cal State LA, while Esmery Martinez scored 15 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and recorded three steals. The two transfers figure to play a big role for Arizona this season.

"It feels great," Martinez said. "It feels better because I'm playing for Adia and I feel that is good."

Freshman Kailyn Gilbert also finished in double figures for the second straight game, scoring 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting from the field and 2 of 4 from deep.

There was a scary moment early as less than a minute into the game Cate Reese took a hard fall while attempting to draw a charge. She was down for a few minutes before eventually being helped up and to the locker room. Reese later returned to the bench, but did not return to the game. Barnes said after the game the concern was a concussion after Reese hit hit her head on the play, but the senior was examined by a doctor and Barnes believes she'll be fine.

With Reese leaving the game early, freshman Maya Nnaji saw more playing time. She scored five points and grabbed eight rebounds across 20 minutes of playing time.

"I think she played really good," Martinez said. "She got into her routine, played really good defense and she helped us rebound too. She is a good freshman and she helped us a lot."

Last season, Arizona's defense was once again its calling card but at times struggled to score. This year, that seems to be different as the Wildcats have a variety of scorers that Barnes can rely on.

"Now I am hoping that we can have the balance of being solid defensively and hitting open shots and not enabling or allowing teams to play sagging man [defense] on us all the time," Barnes said. "I think with our personnel this year, you can't do it and I think we're just better in areas that we weren't good in the last couple of years."

The Wildcats will open the regular season on Nov. 10 at McKale Center against Northern Arizona with tipoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (MST).

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