During Adia Barnes' time at the helm, many have questioned Arizona's "soft" non-conference schedule in the past. Barnes has stated that the schedule would improve as her team does and Friday afternoon, the Wildcats faced No. 6 Louisville in a neutral-site contest in South Dakota just two games into the season.

With No. 22 Arizona (2-0) being a defensive-minded team and face No. 6 Louisville (0-1), who's a defensive-minded team as well, you knew things were going to be tight and come down to the wire. Well, that was certainly the case as the Wildcats pulled off the 61-59 OT upset of the Cardinals.

"This is our second game of the year, so there is a lot to work on. We played a great team early. Louisville is a tremendous team that will go really far in the tournament and do really well in the ACC and is coached great by Jeff Walz.

"We knew it would be a test and a battle on a neutral site in a great environment. So, I'm just glad we were able to come away with the victory. Honestly, this was a great game for women's basketball; it's early in the year; you have two ranked opponents. I think it's really good for our game," said coach Adia Barnes after her team's upset over the Cardinals.

Arizona's size was a critical part of the team's win over Louisville, as the Wildcats went even with the Cardinals for 24 points in the paint and outrebounded them 41 to 40, giving the team the edge.

Arizona's scoring came from its post players as senior forward Cate Reese led the team in scoring with 21 points while going 3 for 5 from the 3-point line.

It wasn't just Reese that gave the Wildcats a presence down in the post. Arizona received a boost from second-year forward Lauren Ware, who recorded eight points and 10 rebounds. Plus, off the bench, Arizona's Ariyah Copeland gave her team eight points and nine rebounds.

The pair combined for five block shots, with Ware getting two blocks in overtime to help secure the win for Arizona.

""I think this year, if I look at us, we have depth inside and we have depth on the perimeter. Tonight it didn't look like we have shooting depth. But we really do. That'll show later. We have some really good shooters.

"But yeah, I mean, Ariyah came in off the bench. She's a starter. So we really have nine starters. But Ariyah came in and gave us tremendous minutes. She's an incredible post presence, a good passer; she sets monstrous a screen. So definitely a lot bigger and more girth inside, which is important," said Barnes on the post play of her team.

Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net throughout the game, with Arizona shooting 36% from the field and going 5 for 19 from beyond the arc. At the same time, Louisville shot 28% from the field and went 2 for 11 from the 3-point line.

Guard Bendu Yeaney has been known as one of Arizona's best defensive players when she is on the court, with her offensive game coming second. However, during the off-season, Yeaney said that she had been putting in work to improve her shot.

Against Louisville, Yeaney scored 12 points, going 5 for 17 from the field and collected four rebounds.

Although Yeaney's shot wasn't falling at first, she scored nine of her 12 points from the fourth quarter tell the final buzzer, including the go-ahead 3-point shot to give the Wildcats the lead.

""I just kept shooting; I knew one of them was going for fall. I kept saying on the bench, 'one of these is going to fall, and when it falls, it's going be a good one.' And they backed up and I was like, you know, if you're going to back up, I'm going shoot it. I'm more confident in my shot this year than I was in the past years. So anytime I'm open, I'm going to let it fly," said Yeaney on her 3-point basket in overtime.

Arizona will travel back home to play Texas Southern (0-1) on Monday at 6:30 p.m. (MST) as the Wildcats will be honoring last season's team by raising the banner from the team's national title game appearance.

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