No. 8 Arizona entered Sunday’s matchup against Oregon State looking for a weekend sweep after an impressive 15-point win over Oregon on Friday. The Wildcats were at a disadvantage as they were forced to play without one of their key reserves Sunday with forward Ariyah Copeland missing the game because of a migraine.
UA was able to receive contributions from other players and used a record-setting performance to take down the Beavers, 73-61, and earn its fifth win in the last six games.
The Wildcats (17-3, 7-3 Pac-12) were evenly matched with OSU through most of the game, holding only a two-point lead entering the fourth quarter. Arizona hit three 3-pointers to open the final quarter allowing the Wildcats to open up a double-digit lead with 4:20 left to play.
UA forward Cate Reese was key late in the game as she scored nine points in the fourth quarter to continue her recent tear. Copeland’s absence plus foul trouble for fellow post player Lauren Ware forced Reese to play all 40 minutes Sunday, and she made it count as she put up 19 points to go along with seven rebounds without ever once being subbed out of the game.
Reese has been the centerpiece for the Wildcats’ offense this season and is averaging 16.9 points to go with 6.6 rebounds during Pac-12 play.
“Cate did a great job today. She is obviously a great presence inside for us. I think more importantly, her defense was amazing today on Kennedy Brown” UA forward Sam Thomas said of her teammate. “Cate kept pushing them, she was battling in the paint and boxing out for us. Luckily, we were able to reward her sometimes with those inside touches or the kickout for threes, so she did very well for us today.”
Offensively, the Wildcats only turned over the ball only three times while Oregon State (11-7, 4-4) turned the ball over 15 times. Arizona was able to score 17 points off of turnovers which is important for a team that has struggled to outrebound its opponents this season. The three turnovers committed by Arizona is the lowest in program history for a single game.
“I thought it was a typo at first,” UA head coach Adia Barnes joked about the low number of turnovers Sunday. “... I don’t think I’ve ever coached a game where we had three turnovers. That’s crazy.”
Barnes said the low turnover number is a byproduct of the extra work the team has been dedicating in practice to fundamentals and improvement in those skills. She was most impressed that UA was not called for a charge and went without a traveling violation in the game.
Offensively, the Wildcats received a much-needed boost from reserve forward Koi Love, who had the second-most points in the win for Arizona. Love was forced to step into a bigger role due to the absence of Copeland and finished with a season-high 16 points in 29 minutes off the bench.
“Honestly [the only difference] is just adjusting. Adjusting to the style of play. The defensive part that is a part of everything that we do. Just being whatever my team needs me to be on the court, off the court. I just wanna win,” Love said.
Arizona only allowed one Oregon State player, guard Talia von Oelhoffen, to score double-digit points in the game. The Wildcats defense held every other player on the Beavers to under 10 points including not allowing Beavers forward Taya Corosdale to score a single basket in three of the four quarters.
UA, which won its 15th-straight home game Sunday, struggled with its shot percentages throughout the game only shooting 40% from the field as a team including shooting only 31% from the 3-point line. Despite those efforts, the Wildcats had three starters who managed to score double-digit points including Thomas. The senior forward has now entered the top 10 in program history for scoring. Thomas had 10 points in Sunday’s game to go with four rebounds.
“She’s always been great off the court. She always does the little things. She always talks. She’s always a leader,” Barnes said. “What I love is when you look at the stat sheet, there’s 10 shots and that seems aggressive but this is what she should do every game.
“So when she’s not I tell her, ‘You need to stay aggressive.’ So, this is the expectation for Sam.”
The Wildcats now get time to shift focus and prepare for their next matchup when they head up to Tempe to take on Arizona State on Friday night, which will be the first of back-t0-back games against the Sun Devils.
Matt Moreno contributed to this report.
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