(PALO ALTO, CA) Alanna Smith made the eventual game-winning three-pointer with 24 seconds left and No. 7 Stanford (22-4, 12-3 Pac-12) came away with a 56-54 win over the Arizona Wildcats (17-8, 7-8 Pac-12) on Friday night in Maples Pavilion.
The nation’s third leading scorer Aari McDonald finished the game with 20 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. She now has 23 20-point games this season.
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Destiny Graham was huge off the bench as she scored a season-high 11 points with a career-high three made three-pointers.
As a team, Arizona outshot Stanford 40% to 37%, but the Cardinal did score 16 second-chance points on the night as opposed to Arizona’s five. Smith led all scorers with 21 points to go along with nine rebounds.
Arizona finished off the first quarter on an 8-2 run to cut Stanford’s lead to 13-12 heading into the second period. Stanford would push that lead to 35-27 heading into halftime after making 69% of their shots in the period. Smith led all scorers with 15 points at the half.
The Wildcats erupted in the third quarter, outscoring Stanford 20-10 as they shot 67% from the field and held the Cardinal to 27% from the floor. Arizona would get the lead all the way to seven in the fourth quarter, but Stanford would finish the game on a 9-0 run over the final four minutes.
Arizona gave themselves a chance after Sam Thomas stole Stanford’s inbounds pass with 10 seconds to go and McDonald got a three-pointer off at the buzzer for the win, but the ball rimmed out after going halfway down.
The Cats will head to Berkeley tomorrow in preparation to face the California Golden Bears on Sunday at 3 p.m. MST.
Courtesy of Arizona Communication Services
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