Arizona freshman Aari McDonald broke the single-season scoring record after scoring 31 points on Sunday, but the California Golden Bears used a big second half to rally and knock off the Arizona Wildcats, 82-76 in overtime.
McDonald had her seventh 30-point game of the season. She added seven assists and four rebounds. She is just the third player in Pac-12 history since the 1999-00 season to have seven 30-point games in a season (Kelsey Plum and Chiney Ogwumike).
Aari McDonald (Arizona Athletics photo)
Sam Thomas and Tee Tee Starks also scored in double-figure scorers. Thomas finished the game with 13 points while Starks made four three-pointers to give her 12 points.
Arizona and Cal played a close first quarter as the Wildcats would take a 15-13 lead into the second period. That’s where Arizona would turn it up.
The Wildcats started the second quarter on a 17-0 run, which included a bucket by McDonald at the four-minute mark that gave her the Arizona single-season scoring record. Cal scored four points, including a buzzer beater, but UA would head to the locker room for halftime with a 32-17 lead. The Golden Bears shot 14 percent in the second quarter.
Both teams shot better than 50 percent in the third quarter and Cal was able to outscore Arizona by four points and the Wildcats took a 48-37 lead into the final period.
Cal outscored the Cats 26-15 to push the game to overtime after Kristine Anigwe made a free throw with a few seconds remaining. The Bears took that momentum into overtime and were able to come away with the win.
Arizona returns home for the final week of conference play starting with Oregon on Friday, Mar. 1. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. MST on the Pac-12 Networks.
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