Courtesy of Arizona Communication Services
(BOULDER, CO) Aari McDonald scored 11 of her 32 points in the fourth quarter and led the Arizona Wildcats (12-1, 2-0) to their school-record 11th-straight victory over the Colorado Buffaloes (10-3, 0-2) by a score of 69-67 on Friday night in Boulder. Sam Thomas hit the eventual game winner with about 30 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
McDonald was fabulous in tonight’s game. To go along with her 32 points, she finished the game with a career-high eight steals, five rebounds and four assists. McDonald has scored at least 30 points in three games this season.
Thomas got into double-figures on her game-winning shot and finished the game with 11 points and three steals. Lucia Alonso hit four threes to give her 12 points on the night.
Although Colorado dominated the boards 39-20, Arizona was able to turn the Buffs over, forcing 21 turnovers and turned that into 21 points. The Wildcats were particularly efficient shooting tonight, converting on 50% of their attempts from the field and made four of their final five field goal attempts.
Arizona came out with a fury in the first quarter, especially on the defensive end as they forced eight first-quarter turnovers and were up 19-10 after one. McDonald paced the Cats with 10 points. The second quarter was high scoring as the two teams each scored 21 points in the second period, and Arizona would go into the locker room up 40-31.
The third quarter was all Colorado as they shot 57% from the field and outscored Arizona 26-14 and took a 57-54 lead into the fourth quarter. The Wildcats would buckle down on defense in the fourth quarter and forced Colorado into 25% shooting and 10 points.
The finals few minutes of the game were invigorating as it was a back-and-forth affair. With the score tied at 67 with 37 seconds left, Thomas hit a layup off a broken play, which would eventually become the game-winning shot. Colorado had a few looks, including one at the rim at the buzzer, but the ball refused to go through the hoop and Arizona won their 11th game in a row.
Arizona will fly to Salt Lake City tomorrow in preparation for a Sunday afternoon game against the Utah Utes at noon MST.
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