After a come-from-behind victory its last time on the floor, Wednesday against UCLA, No. 8 Arizona fell short in Sunday's contest against No. 2 Stanford, 75-69.

Forward Lauren Ware did not start as the Wildcats wanted to open the game with a smaller lineup, and Stanford's stars were able to capitalize and control the game. Most notably Cardinal forward Cameron Brink, who had 22 points in the paint against Arizona’s defense.

“I wanted to go smaller because we were gonna have a difficult time with our starting lineup to matchup with [Stanford guard] Haley [Jones]. So the choice to go with Bendu [Yeaney] to guard Haley was effective because we were able to contain her,” head coach Adia Barnes said.

Arizona (15-3, 5-3 Pac-12) managed to keep the score close throughout much of the first half, but it was a Stanford run in the second quarter that changed the tone of the game.

“That was one of the keys to the game and was really important. There was this run at the end of the second quarter that really hurt us and put us in a deficit at halftime. And then just being able to defend in the fourth quarter," said Barnes about key elements in Sunday's loss. "They were isolating us inside. They did that from the first possession of the third quarter. Just trying to go at us in the paint. And we didn’t really have an answer."

After posting a double-double in the last game, UA forward Cate Reese built off of that performance with another strong showing Sunday as she led the Wildcats offensively. The senior scored 17 points, including leading the team with three 3-point shots made after making three of her six shot attempts from deep.

UA guard Shaina Pellington was also a factor for the Wildcats as she put up 16 points after shooting 7 of 15 from the field.

Defensively, Arizona was outmatched size-wise, and was unable to outmuscle Stanford’s post players in the middle of the floor.

Arizona only led the game for 1:14, but overall the game remained mostly even statistically throughout the day. There were four lead changes before the Cardinal (16-3, 7-0) gained control in the final quarter.

“I think we played hard. I think that in every game, we always play hard. We always are gonna fight. That’s the idea that this team builds, we always want to fight. Today just didn’t go our way. We were hitting shots, and they were hitting shots," Yeaney said." They hit a little bit more shots than us, but there were a couple of things we could’ve fixed throughout the game. But I think we played a solid game, and we gotta work to get better."

Arizona returns home to McKale Center for its next game, Friday, against No. 19 Oregon (13-5, 6-1) at 8 p.m. (MST) on Pac-12 Networks in what will be a white-out night for the Wildcats.

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