(Los Angeles, CA) The Cats came into Pauley Pavilion with the nation’s best nineteen game winning streak and a #18 ranking.
UCLA on the other hand is ranked #8 and a long tradition of excellence in this series.
These are the “New Wildcats” that conference teams have yet to see firsthand as ASU and USC saw this past week in losses to Arizona.
The Wildcats got off to a fast start going up 7-2 but then the Bruins went on an 8-0 run to take the lead 10-7.
Zona came back with an 8-0 run themselves to finish the first quarter up 17-14.
Sam Thomas and Aari McDonald led the scoring with eight and seven points respectively.
Jaden Owens at the 8:23 mark of the second quarter to take the lead back at 19-17.
This game early seemed to be a 8-0 run contest as it was UCLA’s turn and extended their lead to 22-17.
Arizona was in a bit of a bind as Thomas and Cate Reese had two first half fouls and the Bruins took advantage.
Off a steal, Michaela Onyenwere made a layup past McDonald who wisely didn’t contest the shot and pick up a foul. UCLA 29-22.
The Bruins owned the glass in the first half as they had a nine rebound edge 28-19.
Amari Carter and Reese got the Cats back to even 31-31 as they went on a 9-2 run to end the half.
UCLA had its problems with ten turnovers to the Cats six. Although Arizona only went to the foul line twice, they made both free throws. The Bruins struggled from the charity stripe going only 4-13.
Teams this year as in the past two seasons played zone against the Wildcats making them win from the outside. This year they may have to change that strategy as Zona hit 5-12 from beyond the arc
UCLA’s Lindsey Cortaro hit a second chance three pointer to start the third quarter, but Samaj Smith came back with a nice basket down low, 34-33.
Another run by UCLA, 10-0 increased their to 47- 36 at the 5:25 mark. This was more points than Arizona’s defensive average had allowed this season.
The Bruins had bottled up Reese for the most part. Reese had come into the contest with a string of double-doubles and a PAC-12 Player of the Week award.
Thomas went to the bench with her fourth foul with 4:50 left in the third period. This was huge because she had been guarding Onyenwere who was UCLA’s leading scorer in the game.
Even though Arizona has the best depth they’ve had since Adia Barnes came back to coach the Cats, it’s inexperienced depth with many bench players being freshman.
The Achilles heel of the Wildcats has been the third quarter with slow starts out of the locker room for the second half. UCLA outscored the Arizona 28-13 in the quarter and took command of the contest 59-44.
The bench scoring was nonexistent for Zona, 22-0 in favor of the Bruins. McDonald and Thomas both out with four fouls exacerbated the need for the bench to contribute.
Onyenwere went off in the fourth quarter with Thomas in foul trouble to get her twentieth career double-double.
Smith fouled out at 4;17 left in the game. Thomas and McDonald still had four fouls and Reese with three.
With three minutes to go, UCLA had a 66-50 lead. Arizona got its first bench points off a three pointer from Tara Manumaleuga after Thomas had gotten two offensive rebounds off her own missed shots with 2:32 left in the game.
Thomas was the second player to foul out for the Wildcats as UCLA was just two much for Arizona today and won going away 70-58.
Arizona’s nineteen game win streak came to end with #3 Oregon State on deck next on January 10th at 8 pm back home.
The big takeaways from this game was UCLA’s dominance on the glass 47-33 and the virtually no production from the Arizona bench 22-3 to the Bruin’s advantage.
Now that the conference season has begun, Arizona must come out of halftime locker room with the same energy and effort as they do to start the game.
The difference in the game was the poor third quarter Arizona had, because the Cats outscored the Bruins 14-11 in the final period.
