(Tucson, AZ) The Cats came into tonight’s game flying high with a 9-0 record and ranked #18 coming off a nice road win at UTEP.
Tennessee State, the state’s “other” school had a 1-6 record entering the game. The Lady Tigers wanted to make a good showing after starting off so slow. TSU had a six game losing streak coming into McKale and was blown out by instate powerhouse Tennessee 73-43 in the second game of their season.
Fresh off her PAC-12 Player of the Week award, Cate Reese scored Arizona’s first five points. After that, the Cats went cold for a few minutes at then picked it back up at the end of the first period to lead 17-6.
The Wildcats led the nation in opponent’s field goal percentage on defense (28.8%) and their defense was stout again to open the game. The Tigers went 2-13 (15%) and much was due to Arizona’s length in cutting off the angles.
Reese was 5-7 and had 12 points to pace the Cats in the first quarter. Arizona also had a big edge on the boards 17-5.
TSU still had their shooting woes to start the second quarter and at the midway point, but doubled their scoring output 12-6. Zona still maintained a 25-11 lead.
Even though Arizona had a big lead, they were missing a lot of high percentage shots down low. Outside shooting was off in the first half as well with only 3-11 from beyond the arc. The Tigers hit their three pointer with 1:13 left til halftime.
As in the opening quarter, the Cats turned it on in the last five minutes to go into the half up 37-18.
A combination of a pressing defense, good boxing out on the boards and points in the paint contributed to the Wildcats big halftime lead.
Reese single-handedly outscored the Tigers 19-18. The one negative stat for the Wildcats was 14 turnovers they committed.
During the course of the non conference schedule, Arizona has played teams with far less talent but have also had some big road tests at Austin and El Paso Texas. All this has culminated in an undefeated record with one more game Saturday against UC-Santa Barbara before the conference wars begin.
The third quarter which has been one of the few dark spots for the Cats seemed to right itself tonight with a twenty two point quarter and a 59-25 lead.
With 41.6 seconds left, Reese topped her previous career high getting her twenty third point. Her previous high was twenty two against North Dakota on November 19th 2018.
Zona still in command 66-33 with 5:48 left in the game as the reserves got a lot of quality minutes which will help out depth-wise in conference play.
Second half threes found their mark as Bryce Nixon found the bottom of the net with 4:25 left to accentuate Arizona’s dominance in this game. Cats were up by forty 73-33 at the last media timeout.
Down the stretch Coach Adia Barnes cleared her bench and Zona took care of business 77-42.
Arizona has been 9-0 twice, both when Barnes was a player but now being 10-0 this sets a new record.
Even with the win, Barnes was not entirely happy with the Wildcats’s play. Sloppy defense, contested shots and ill advised passes into the post were her main concerns after the game.
Up next is UCSB, who beat PAC-12 foe USC earlier this season 57-46.
This will be a good close out game with the upcoming PAC-12 schedule beginning on the road at ASU December 29th at noon.
The team finishes up their finals and heads into the Holiday beak before returning to campus.
Attendance tonight was 3, 891.
