Head coach Adia Barnes was named to the Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year Late Season Watch List on Wednesday.

Barnes has led Arizona to a 21-4 start for the first time in 20 seasons and are in the middle of the best stretch in school history as the Wildcats have won 27 of their last 31 games dating back to last season. Only Baylor, Princeton, Florida Gulf Coast and Oregon have won more games than Arizona in the last 31.

The Wildcats have only lost to teams who were ranked in the top 10 at the time and have also knocked off two top-10 teams for the first time since 2003. Additionally, Arizona beat a top-10 team on the road for the first time in school history when they beat then-ranked No. 9 Oregon State in overtime on Feb. 9.

Arizona, who was picked to finish sixth in the Pac-12, are currently in fourth place with a two-game lead over Arizona State, who is in fifth place. The Wildcats are 10-4 in Pac-12 play and have double-digit conference victories for the first time in nine seasons.

It has been a historical season for Barnes and the Wildcats so far as Arizona has won 21 regular-season games for the first time since the 2003-04 season and are ranked No. 11 in the country, their highest ranking since 1998 when Barnes was a senior at Arizona.

The Wildcats have consistently been one of the top defensive teams in the country as they are first in the Pac-12 in scoring defense and ninth in the country (53.9). Through the first 14 conference games of the season, Arizona has held all their Pac-12 opponents under their scoring average.

Name School

Adia Barnes Arizona

Cori Close UCLA

Dawn Plitzuweit South Dakota

Dawn Staley South Carolina

Doug Bruno DePaul

Geno Auriemma UConn

Jeff Walz Louisville

Joe McKeown Northwestern

Kelly Graves Oregon

Kim Mulkey Baylor

Lisa Bluder Iowa

Lisa Fortier Gonzaga

Scott Rueck Oregon State

Tara Vanderveer Stanford

Wes Moore North Carolina State