Adia Barnes’ No. 10-ranked Arizona team was able to pull out Friday night’s game against Utah at McKale Center, winning 66-54 and securing its 11th victory of the season.
During the first half, the Wildcats (11-2, 9-2 Pac-12) had a tough time finding the bottom of the net, going 11-for-33 from the field and 2-for-8 from behind the arc. With the team struggling to find its footing, junior Bendu Yeaney gave her team a needed boost scoring 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
After taking an awkward fall in the first half, Yeaney saw limited minutes in the second half. She would finish the game with 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 24 minutes.
Arizona guard Bendu Yeaney had a season-high 13 points in the first half, but headed to the locker room right before the 2nd quarter ended due to a left leg injury.
Hopefully it’s nothing serious. pic.twitter.com/sQ4mNXESZb
— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) January 22, 2021
The game had two milestone moments, with Cate Reese and Aari McDonald reaching significant individual career scoring marks.
Reese became the 22nd member of Arizona’s 1,000-point club. She finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and three steals in 26 minutes.
1⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣ for @cate_reese pic.twitter.com/G8XfH2VtIh
— Arizona Women’s Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) January 23, 2021
McDonald surpassed 2,000 points in her collegiate career that started in Washington in 2016-17. She is in her third season with Arizona after sitting out the 2017-18 season because of NCAA transfer rules. She finished with 20 points, four assists and three steals. She is now at 1,730 points for her Wildcat career, trailing former star Dee-Dee Wheeler by 236 points for third place in program history.
With the free-thows @AariMcdonald becomes a member of the 2,000 point club for her college career with Washington and Arizona. #Arizona #Washington #PAC12WBB pic.twitter.com/0xSttwcdeR
— Troy Hutchison (@THutch1995) January 23, 2021
Arizona Career Scoring Leaders
| Player | Years | Games | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Adia Barnes | 1994-98 | 121 | 2,237 |
| 2. | Davellyn Whyte | 2009-13 | 126 | 2,059 |
| 3. | Dee-Dee Wheeler | 2001-05 | 124 | 1,966 |
| 4. | Aari McDonald | 2018-21 | 86 | 1,868 |
| 5. | Ify Ibekwe | 2007-11 | 116 | 1,653 |
Here are McDonald and Reese talking about the team’s performance against Utah and discussing what it is like to reach those career milestones:
Against Utah, the Wildcats made it four straight games at McKale Center of forcing an opponent into more turnovers than field goals made. Arizona held the Utes to just 22 made shots while forcing 29 turnovers that resulted in 30 fast-break points.
Although Arizona had mostly success against Utah, it also struggled to guard the 3-point line. The Utes shot just 33 percent but went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter, keeping them in the game.
Here’s Barnes talking about where she felt her team struggled in the game and giving insight into what it means for a program to have players like Reese and McDonald achieve career milestones:
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Troy Hutchison hails from Tucson and is a lifelong Arizona Wildcats follower. He has been involved in sports journalism over the last two years while taking communications courses at Pima Community College.
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