What happens when a team unexpectedly loses its leading scorer and rebounder the night before a game? Arizona women’s basketball found out when sophomore post Breya Cunningham missed the game against California at the Acrisure Holiday Invitational on Wednesday afternoon. The end result was a 74-62 loss to the Golden Bears to drop the Wildcats’ record to 6-3 on the season.
Cunningham missed the game due to a family emergency that Arizona head coach Adia Barnes had briefly alluded to after Tuesday’s loss to Vanderbilt. In her place was Sahnya Jah who was making her first career start.
“This emergency was just a family emergency, so I’m thankful that we were only a couple hours away because she was able to get home,” Barnes said. “She should be back on Friday, but it was really important. Someone was hospitalized, so it’s really important for her to get there.”
Cunningham averages 13.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game. All three stats lead the Wildcats.
It didn’t look like a problem for Arizona in the early going. Jah stepped up with five points, one rebound, and one steal in six minutes during the first quarter. She didn’t miss a shot from the field or the line in the opening period.
“I thought she played really hard,” Barnes said. “I thought she gave us great energy. I thought she did some really good things. I thought she got a little bit tired and missed some shots around the basket, but I think she did a great job stepping in and stepping up.”
It was part of a team effort that had the Wildcats leading the Golden Bears by as many as nine points in the first quarter.
It didn’t last for Arizona, which shot just 25 percent from the field in the second quarter. The ‘Cats went into the locker room down by six.
They rebounded offensively in the third quarter behind the play of Paulina Paris. She had seven points as UA shot 54.5 percent in the 10 minutes after halftime. The problem was on the other end of the court.
Cal hit 70 percent of their shots in the third quarter. The absence of Cunningham allowed Cal post Ugonne Onyiah to go off for 10 points in just that period. Onyiah went 4 for 4 from the floor and hit both of her free throws.
Onyiah ended the game with 25 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 1 steal. She hit 11 of 14 from the floor and 3 of 4 from the line.
“We just got murdered by the post players this weekend, and some of that was because we’re missing size and Breya’s presence inside,” Barnes said.
Cal scored 34 of its 74 points in the paint despite having just two fastbreak points. The Bears grabbed 13 offensive boards and turned them into 14 second-chance points.
“We weren’t boxing out at all,” Barnes said. “And the thing is, the difference is (Cunningham) gives us scoring on the block. We don’t have any scoring on the block when she’s not there. So Jah likes to float and take jumpers. Doesn’t really like to post up.”
Jada Williams led the Wildcats in scoring once again. She ended with 18 points on 8-for-17 shooting. She added three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Jah kicked in 13 points on 4-for-14 shooting. She added five rebounds and a team-high four steals.
Skylar Jones contributed 12 points, shooting 40 percent from the floor and going 3 for 4 at the line. She also had two rebounds, one assist, one block, and two steals. If there was a knock on her outing it was that she had five turnovers.
Despite the five turnovers from Jones, the Wildcats seemed to solve their turnover problems as a group. They committed just 13 against the Bears, setting a season low.
“We showed a ton of film yesterday,” Barnes said. “Just showed like, this is where we’re turning it over. This is why. These are things we have to do, and they did a great job of applying it. We’re young, and we need tons of repetition. We need hours of practice. We need to change some serious bad defensive habits and offensive understanding. And it just takes time, and I’m very aware of that, so I have to be patient. I have to understand it’s a marathon, not a sprint. So I have to keep on teaching every moment I can. And I’m really patient, I think, with teaching them, because I’m not going to make them get all this experience like Helena (Pueyo) had in a couple months. They’re learning stuff new from years of bad habits or years of different systems or years of lack of understanding, so you don’t just start reading the defense and understanding passing angles and stuff. It just takes repetition time.”
Arizona came in averaging 20.9 turnovers per game. The team had turned the ball over at least 20 times in five games this season. Its only other game with fewer than 15 turnovers was against Tarleton State, which turned the Wildcats over 14 times.
Barnes said the players will have the day off for Thanksgiving tomorrow before returning to practice on Friday. They will be preparing to host Seattle University on Monday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. MST. in McKale Center.
Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics