If Arizona women’s basketball fans were looking for proof that their team could compete with another Power 4 program, 30 minutes of the Wildcats’ Big 12 opener was that proof. It only takes one really bad quarter and a few mistimed errors, though. The second quarter was that for the Wildcats in a 63-62 loss to the Utah Utes on Monday afternoon in McKale Center.
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“If you’re looking for me to sit up here and be happy about a moral victory, that’s not how I feel, but I am really, really proud of them in a lot of different aspects of this game,” said Arizona head coach Becky Burke. “I mean, I think you take away the second quarter and we win by probably close to 20, and it’s frustrating. They know. It just happened to be our worst scoring quarter of our entire season, you know? And we even it out the rest of the way as far as our scoring goes…We held them to 63. Thought that was really, really impressive defensive effort, aside from that second quarter wasn’t our best defensive quarter, wasn’t our best offensive quarter. So take that thing out. I think we walk away by double digits minimum. And they know it. I know it. And unfortunately, it’s not a 30-minute game, it’s a 40-minute game.”
Burke was especially frustrated by the things Arizona could control, like two lane violations on free throws earned by Tanyuel Welch. Those two free throws could have given the Wildcats the victory.
“Everything matters,” she said. “Everything matters. You know, a free throw line violation freaking matters, right? Like everything that we do matters because we’re not a team that has any room for slippage in areas that we can control.”
Utah used a 24-4 second quarter to go into the half with a 16-point lead. Arizona could have crumbled, but fought back in the second half. It just wasn’t enough to overcome the 20-point disparity before halftime.
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“We answered the bell in that second quarter, started to hone in on our defensive game plan and allowed the ball to move on offense,” said Utah head coach Gavin Petersen. “And then, you know, the third and fourth quarter, when we look back at the film, it’s going to be we got certain shots that we wanted, and we didn’t hit them, whether it be layups or open threes, and we’ll live with those shots moving forward.”
Arizona couldn’t keep up with Utah’s Lani White for the first 20 minutes. She had 20 points in the first half. She finished with a game-high 26 as one of three Utes in double figures.
“I think I just let my let the my foot up off the gas, unfortunately, which is tough to say, but I’m trying to focus on my defense,” White said. “I think I let turnovers get to me, and a little bit of fatigue, but we came out with a win, so I can always be happy.”
Arizona’s scoring was led by Micky Perdue with 16 points. Perdue also had two rebounds.
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Lani Cornfield had a slow start from the field but settled in as the game progressed. She ended with a double-double of 11 points and 10 assists. She also had six rebounds and two steals.
Arizona’s other double-digit scorers were Welch and Daniah Trammell. Welch had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. Trammell ended with 12 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, and 2 steals.
While White was hot for Utah in the first half, she wasn’t the only one getting things done for Utah. The Utes shared the ball well during the first two quarters. Time after time, they simply threw it to the rim and scored. They assisted on 11 of 15 made baskets in the first 20 minutes.
That slowed down in the second half, as Arizona worked itself back into the game. The Utes had five assists on 11 baskets in the final 20 minutes.
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It wasn’t the distance-shooting Utah teams of old. The Utes went 5 for 21 from outside while Arizona shot 4 for 7 from 3-point distance. The biggest shot came with just over eight seconds to go in the game and Utah up by four.
Both teams had gone cold with neither scoring in over three minutes. Arizona finally ended its drought on a Welch layup to cut Utah’s lead to six with 1:24 left. Welch was fouled on the play and cut the lead to five with a made free throw.
Utah pushed the lead back to seven, but then fouled Perdue on a 3-point shot. It was the third time this season Perdue had been fouled on an outside shot. She made all three free throws to make it a four-point game with 31 seconds to go.
With just 8.4 seconds to go, Cornfield inbounded the ball to Perdue at the 3-point line. She hit the shot. It was a one-point game.
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“We needed the three,” Perdue said. “But, you know, I’m confident in my shot. My teammates are confident. They set great screens. Those are great screens. Like, she couldn’t even get through them, and that’s ultimately what we wanted out of the play. That was a great execution, and just a good shot that I shoot every day.”
The Wildcats took the foul to put Utah on the line and got the two missed free throws that they were looking for. They had just over a second to try to win the game.
Burke put in Achol Magot hoping to get the hoop or foul at the rim. She got the ball but wasn’t able to get a clean shot. The buzzer sounded with Utah still leading by one.
The Wildcats and Utes both came out shooting hot. Arizona went 4-for-4 to start the game and ended the opening quarter shooting 50 percent. Utah went 3-for-3 and was hitting 43.8 percent after 10 minutes. The Wildcats were up by four and looked to have some momentum after the opening frame.
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The Utes kept it up in the second quarter, but Arizona couldn’t maintain the pace. The Wildcats didn’t hit a bucket until Sumayah Sugapong knocked one down with 3:18 left in the half. That cut Utah’s lead to 11. The Utes outscored the home team 24-4 in the quarter and went into the locker room leading 39-23.
Arizona responded in the third, coming out on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to single digits. Utah found its footing again after that, but the Wildcats won the quarter 24-18 to cut the lead to 10 after 30 minutes.
Arizona got even better on both ends in the final quarter, outscoring Utah 19-10. It wasn’t enough to come back from the four-point second quarter.
The game marked Arizona’s first with the Big 12’s new injury report. Utah was missing starting guard Brooke Walker, who was out for the fifth straight game. Freshman guard Ella Todd has been out all season. Arizona was without Montaya Dew, who has not played this year, either. All three were listed as out on the pregame injury report.
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“We’re having [White] play some point guard, and…we don’t practice that,” Petersen said. “We’re banged up a little bit right now. Can’t wait till Brooke Walker comes back. But again, that’s part of it. You got to just, we say, wet fit. And we just got to wet fit it and get it done.”
