A day before the game, Arizona Wildcats head coach Adia Barnes wasn’t sure who she would go with in her starting lineup against Baylor (13-3, 3-1). She opted to stick with the five who had success against UCF last weekend.
As much as the Wildcats (11-6, 2-2) played like a team in Orlando, they played like individuals against the Bears for most of the game. The ball didn’t move. Bad shots were taken early in the shot clock, often with one or no passes. They fell behind by as many as 17 before making a furious comeback and forcing overtime, but came up a little short in an 81-76 loss.
“I’m proud of my team and the way they fought back,” Barnes said.
After the opening minutes of the game, the ball went an extended period of time without getting to Breya Cunningham. Given that Cunningham has the third-highest PER in the Big 12 and leads the team in both scoring and rebounds, it was not a recipe for success.
Skylar Jones could not reproduce her success from the previous outing. She was the first sub, but she was out of the game just over a minute after coming in when she committed two quick fouls.
Jada Williams played what might have been her most disappointing game in a Wildcat uniform for three quarters—not because of her shooting difficulties but because she wasn’t able to run the team effectively. She was pulled in the third quarter, as well.
“On the bench, I’m still being a cheerleader,” Williams said. “I’m not even, honestly, not even thinking about the shots that I took in the first half, or whatever the case may be. So just get on the bench. Being a cheerleader. They went on an amazing run when I was on a bench, and I’m proud of that. So just be a cheerleader. Help my freshmen, helping out my bigs from the bench, doing everything I can from bench.”
Williams re-entered the game at the 7:45 mark in the fourth quarter, replacing Lauryn Swann. At first, it looked like a bad decision by Barnes. Arizona had cut a 16-point Baylor lead to five, at least partly by rediscovering Cunningham inside. The lead ballooned back to 10.
Then, Williams and Paulina Paris took over. Paris scored seven straight points for Arizona. Williams then went off for seven straight. It was a two-point game.
“I thought Paulina Paris gave them a huge lift off the bench, made tough shots down the stretch,” said Baylor head coach Nicki Collen. “Should have been a fun game to watch, stressful to coach, but a really good basketball game in the Big 12.”
When Arizona was playing team ball in the opening minutes, it was a competitive game. Baylor led by just one point after the first 10 minutes. Then came the hero ball and the lack of paint touches by the Wildcats and the Bears started to run away. The visitors went up by as many as 17 in the second quarter and led by 13 going into the locker room.
Arizona came back onto the floor and seemed to be back to playing like a team. It didn’t last long at all. The Wildcats fell back into a rut of holding the ball, over-dribbling, and taking ill-advised shots. Even made buckets were often the result of pickup ball gone awry.
Barnes decided to go with her freshmen guards, Paris, Cunningham, and Isis Beh about halfway through the third quarter. The lead was down to seven points with 10 minutes to go.
Arizona stayed with that lineup to start the fourth quarter. The group cut the deficit to five points. Then, Swann came out at the 7:45 mark. The lead was back up to 10 just 90 seconds later.
That’s when Paris and Williams found their grooves.
Arizona went on a 13-3 run that was capped by a layup by Beh to tie the game at 69-69 with 11 seconds to go. Then, in a game that had been very physical inside, a foul was called on Mailien Rolf with 1.2 seconds on the clock. Baylor’s Jada Walker hit both free throws and it looked like the game was over.
Barnes called a timeout to advance the ball and draw up a play. The ball went into Beh at the rim for the second straight time. She hit the shot to tie it at 71 apiece and send the game to overtime.
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs came up big in overtime for the Bears. She got the scoring started and was responsible for eight of Baylor’s 10 points in the extra period.
“I can promise you that if we were in a overtime game, Littlepage-Buggs would have not have played 22 minutes,” Collen said. “So she was in foul trouble all night. Picked up her third early in the third. So for her to have 13 and 11 and 22 minutes, she was the difference maker in overtime. Maybe it’s because she was fresher. But I thought when the moments got big, she really shined there in overtime. So super proud of her.”
Arizona kept it close in the final five minutes. After Littlepage-Buggs put the Bears up two to start the period, Swann tied it on two free throws. Littlepage-Buggs had two more, then Williams responded with a jumper. Littlepage-Buggs scored again, and Paris responded with a free throw. That was Arizona’s final point.
Williams took the Wildcats’ final two shots of the game, missing both. Baylor got a bucket from Jada Walker and free throws from Littlepage-Buggs for the final score.
Arizona played without Montaya Dew and Katarina Knežević, both of whom were “out” according to Barnes. While neither is a big scorer, Dew is one of the Wildcats’ top assisters. In a game where the ball didn’t move as well as it should, her absence was felt.
Beh led the Wildcats with 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting. She added six rebounds, four assists, and one steal. She fouled out with seconds to go in overtime after playing nearly 40 minutes. She drove, made layups, and hit a 3-point shot, showing some offensive aggressiveness that she sometimes lacks.
“My coaches have been on me to shoot it when I’m open,” Beh said.
Williams and Swann both had 16 points. Williams went 2 for 10 through the first three quarters, then hit 4 of 6 shots in the fourth quarter and overtime to end 6 for 16. She added two rebounds, two assists, and two steals, but also turned the ball over a team-high five times.
Swann hit 3 of her 10 shots from the field but went 9 for 11 from the free throw line. She added two rebounds, one assist, and one steal. She did not turn the ball over at all in her 28 minutes on the court.
Cunningham got just her second double-double of the season and her first since opening night against UT Arlington. Despite not scoring at all in the second quarter, she ended with 10 points to go with her 12 rebounds. She added one assist, two blocks, and four steals while picking up just three fouls in 40 minutes on the court.
After only playing three minutes in Arizona’s last game, Paris had 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting. She also had one rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 30 minutes of play.
Rolf went 0 for 3 from the floor but led the team with six assists to go with her two rebounds. She only turned the ball over once in 38 minutes.
“When you look at our freshman starting, I mean Lauryn as a freshman starting the game, she had almost 30 minutes, had zero turnovers,” Barnes said. “Then you look at Mailien, had one turnover. So those were two freshmen starting against a veteran team. That’s a better team right now, more depth, more experience, all seniors, and then they only had one turnover together. So that’s remarkable. So credit to them.”
Arizona returns to McKale Center on Saturday, Jan. 11 to take on Iowa State.