Arizona has been in search of consistency all season. The Wildcats (16-12, 7-8 Big 12) didn’t find it on Wednesday night against BYU, but a balanced attack allowed them to salvage a 65-57 win. The victory gave UA the season sweep over the Cougars (13-13, 4-11 Big 12).
It was a game the Wildcats knew they had to win.
“Our coach said that today starts a new season for our hopes for the postseason, so that’s what we were thinking about,” Arizona guard Skylar Jones said. “So it’s good that we have to start with a sweep in our first time in the conference.”
UA had a superb first half despite only one starter playing more than 10 minutes. It wasn’t because of foul trouble, either.
Breya Cunningham didn’t pick up her first until the third quarter. Isis Beh didn’t get one until the fourth quarter. The minute distribution was planned.
Head coach Adia Barnes went into the game knowing that she didn’t want to play her starters a lot of minutes, especially with Jada Williams and Mailien Rolf coming off injuries. It was also the second of three games over six days for the Wildcats.
“Because it’s a tough week, it’s a long week, so trying to really be conscientious of their minutes and not having Jada just come back and play like 37 minutes, because she averages, I think, 35,” Barnes said. “So I was really intentional about that, and also with Mailien. So I wanted to keep them around 20, 23, and so I think we did a good job of that.”
Barnes’ biggest regret was having to play Jones for 33 minutes. The sophomore continues to recover from a minor respiratory illness.
Arizona got solid contributions from the bench from both Lauryn Swann and Paulina Paris, in the opening half, but those players are used to playing significant minutes. Katarina Knežević is not, but the Serbian forward was a big part of the Wildcats’ success in the first 20 minutes.
Knežević got her first significant minutes in Big 12 play at Oklahoma State. Afterward, Barnes said that although there were still freshman mistakes, she had earned more minutes with her play against the Cowgirls.
When Arizona was shorthanded against TCU, Knežević was the first sub. She saw 20 minutes on the floor for the second straight game. She again had some miscues, particularly with play calls, but they were nothing Barnes couldn’t live with.
“So last game, very hard situation if you’re a player,” Barnes said after the TCU loss. “I’ve been there as a player. You don’t play for like seven games, then you go and get a few minutes…you don’t have confidence, which is normal as a player. She did a really good job (against Oklahoma State), and what it did is give me confidence as a coach. Because you have time to prove it every day in practice, and you have time in the game situation, which is different. She came and she performed and she earned more minutes. She was the first off the bench today.”
The freshman forward got her number called first once again against BYU. She didn’t force shots. She didn’t commit fouls. She didn’t turn the ball over. All were things that limited her earlier in the season. She was steady with three points, two assists, two rebounds, and two steals, all of which came in the first half of the game.
“I think just the habit of…her and Lauryn paying attention to detail and not over helping when we don’t want to, or we don’t need to, when that’s like a game plan, and not losing sight of your person,” Barnes said. “Those are little things. Those are freshmen mistakes that they have to grow in, but they are improving. I think you saw Lauryn contesting shooters a lot better, not making as many mistakes in pick-and-roll situations. She’s getting better.”
That’s not to say the starters weren’t the primary movers. Cunningham was able to play without fear of fouls, picking up her first in the third quarter. She had four blocks and a steal without getting whistled in 10 minutes of play before the half, but she didn’t believe that she played much differently than she usually does.
“I think the only thing that I was conscious of on defense was keeping my hands up,” Cunningham said. “I don’t feel like I changed anything else on defense. I was still aggressive on defense with her. I feel like…sometimes playing with a real big—two bigs—they kind of let us play a little bit more.”
Cunningham was one of four Wildcats who ended the game with double figures. In addition to her four blocks and two steals, she had 11 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.
Beh led the team with 14 points. She went 3 for 4 from the field, including hitting 1 of 2 shots from 3-point distance, and 7 for 8 from the line. She added four rebounds, one assist, one block, and three steals. She picked up her only foul in the fourth quarter.
Despite a nagging cough, Jones contributed 13 points on 4 for 6 field goal shooting and 5 of 8 free throw shooting. She added five rebounds, a team-high three assists, and one steal.
Williams was the fourth Wildcat in double figures with 12 points, nine of which came in the second half when BYU was mounting a comeback. She added a rebound and two steals in 22 minutes of play.
The game started much like the one between the two teams to start the conference season. Arizona jumped out to a big lead. It was 18-8 in December. This time, it was 16-7. In both cases, BYU’s star freshman Delaney Gibb had a slow start. She scored just two points in the first half, but the reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Week ended with 16 to go along with her five assists, four rebounds, and two steals.
“She’s too good of a player,” said BYU head coach Amber Whiting. “Any given moment, she’s going to get free, at some point in the game, and then do her thing. I would like to have it earlier, but we got it.”
Just like in Provo, Arizona couldn’t keep the shooter from hitting shots. While the Wildcats hit just 13.3 percent of their shots in the third quarter, the Cougars came out ready to play. BYU outscored UA 15-6 in the third quarter.
“I got after them pretty good,” Whiting said. “Their energy, their effort was awful, and I don’t coach energy and effort. I’m the coach, whoever wants to give it to me out there. And so they start scrambling, they start flying around, and they picked it up, but I mean, it’s almost too little too late. You can’t do that with a team like Arizona.”
BYU rode the momentum and made plays, cutting a 16-point lead at the half down to four with under a minute to go in the game.
“They’re a good shooting team,” Cunningham said. “So if we lose a couple people on defense, couple transition threes, then they’re right back in the game. So I think us not being as aggressive on defense that third quarter, and losing a couple people in transition, (allowed) them to cut down the lead and then get that confidence.”
Barnes felt that confidence started building before halftime, and Arizona must get over the third-quarter doldrums if it hopes to make the tournament.
“When we have a cushion at halftime, I think the part of us getting to that next level and being a tournament team is being able to put people away and keep the pedal to the metal,” Barnes said. “We have momentum going to halftime. But the momentum started (to shift) with the mistake, the over-help at the end of the second quarter. It led to a three. So then you go into halftime, they have momentum. So those are the little things.”