(Tucson, AZ)
Bill McCulloch
In a week that saw the Wildcats come home with a six game losing streak and having semester ending finals, nothing could have been a better cure than Student Day at McKale Center against the New Mexico State Aggies.
With kids and teachers for various school districts around the Metro area swelling the crowd to 7,558 excitement was the prescription for success.
During the winless streak, Arizona has hung tough in most of the games but just couldn’t finish the task.
Senior JaLea Bennett told the team in pregame to start strong and not let up. As they came on to the court, the second largest crowd ever for a Women’s game turned up the volume making McKale rock. That ignited the fire.
Right off the tip with a scant fifteen seconds gone, Bennett drains a jumper to get the Cats off on the right foot. Sammy Fatkin follows with a three point basket and Bennett’s again scores on a nice drive to the hoop. With the score 7-0, the Aggies finally scored, but the Cats were already rolling.
With good inside out ball movement, Arizona maintained continued control and ended the first quarter with a 17-8 lead. New Mexico State’s Brooke Salas had six of the eight points for the Aggies.
The second quarter began just as first with Bennett scoring twice on layups and Kat Wright hitting a three from the wing to swell the lead to fourteen 24-10.
Arizona never let the Aggies get closer than nine points as their much improved defense asserted itself. Salas could only try to keep New Mexico St. close as she continued to be their only weapon. The Wildcats closed out the first half on a 12-1 run that gave them a twenty point halftime lead.
The Cats inside game was running on all cylinders as they outscored New Mexico St. 24-8 in the paint. Zona shot 47% from the field and hit four three pointers while only turning the ball over four times to keep the Aggies off balance the entire half.
With a sizable lead and the loudest crowd of the season, Arizona began the third quarter still in sync with a 13-4 run and slamming the door on any hopes the Aggies would have of coming out on top. The Cats scored anywhere and everywhere on the court.
Scorching the net shooting sixty percent from the floor along with 3-5 from beyond the arc allowed Coach Barnes to substitute freely.
Freshman Kiana Barkhoff played seven of the ten minutes in the quarter and went 2-3 with a couple of big offensive rebounds. Assistant Coach Morgan Valley has been working with Barkhoff and it showed this afternoon with a 65-33 lead going into the final quarter.
Even with half of the starting lineup now finished for the game, Malecha scored five points and continued to play well as the Cats bench outscored the Aggies 33-6 in what will be much needed heading into PAC-12 play at the end of the month.
The Aggies sharpshooter Salas went 0-4 in the fourth quarter and even though she finished with twenty points, New Mexico St. had no one else in double figures.
Arizona never trailed in the game and won 83-44. JaLea Bennett finished with 26 points while Marlee Kyles added 14. There are two non conference games remaining.
Game by game you can see the growth and maturity of these young Cats as they prepare for the rigors of conference play.
Next up for Arizona is the Hawaii Lady Rainbow Warriors on Sunday at 2pm.
