After being handed its first loss of the season its last time on the floor, No. 7 Arizona point guard Shaina Pellington played hero and scored a last-second shot to give the Wildcats a 55-53 victory over Oregon State on the road Thursday night in Corvallis.
With UA forward Lauren Ware returning from injury and Pellington returning after missing the previous two games, the Wildcats (12-1, 2-1 Pac-12) received the spark they needed with Pellington putting up 12 points all in the second half.
UA guard Bendu Yeaney and forward Cate Reese also managed to have a strong night by putting up 15 points and 12 points, respectively. However, Reese only scored two points in the entire second half.
The Wildcats struggled early on in the game, but picked it up later in the night after only shooting 33% in the first half compared to Oregon State’s 37%. The Beavers (7-4, 0-1 Pac-12) were able to capitalize off of that and ultimately carry the game into halftime leading by two points even with more turnovers than the Wildcats.
Arizona came out firing in the second half, taking over the lead in the third quarter and holding onto it for a majority of the half. As a team, UA was able to shoot 50% from the field and made all of its third-quarter free throws, which it only made around 70% of in the first half.
“I knew that if I’m aggressive the defense can’t sag on me and things like that, so I just wanted to come out aggressive,” Yeaney said. “In the first half, I was aggressive in the second quarter so I wanted to keep that momentum going from the second quarter to the third quarter. My shots were just falling.”
Pellington led the team in the second half but also had help from forward Ariyah Copeland, who had five points in the second half and was also an impact player in the paint helping the Wildcats from allowing any of Oregon State’s players to score double-digit points. UA outrebounded Oregon State 29 to 28 in the game.
The fourth quarter did not go so well for the Wildcats as the team struggled to make its shots during the home stretch. During the last five minutes of the game, the Wildcats fell behind again before Pellington made the shot.
“I thought Shaina was huge today,” head coach Adia Barnes said. “She’s been out for 10 days, and I think that for her to come back and she doesn’t fully have her wind back yet. Just to have Lauren and Shaina back was just huge for us. She once again came up with a big shot down the stretch. I thought there was even a little bit of contact, but it was a big play. She had the courage to take it, and I think having the ball in her hands at the last second is what we want her to do.”
Despite not scoring at all in the first half, Pellington redeemed herself in the second half and led the team in scoring. It was her first game in three weeks, yet she didn’t know she would be taking the floor until close to when the Wildcats arrived in Corvallis.
“I found out I was able to play literally Wednesday,” Pellington said. “My mindset coming into this game was just, ‘You know what, I put the work in. We had a couple practices before we traveled here, so my objective in practice was to just get my feet back and be available and help my team the best way that I can.”
With all the COVID-19 issues within college basketball, the team has had to take lots of unexpected time off which, according to coach Barnes, has caused some falling behind both in fitness and sharpness.
“I thought we fought a little harder,” she said. “We’re not in shape right now. A lot of teams aren’t with most of the program having COVID. Then coming back, we’re kind of rusty. So, we have to work back in shape.”
Arizona continues its road trip Saturday when the Wildcats take on Oregon, Jan. 15, in Eugene.
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