Arizona Wildcats’ Aari McDonald closing in on two significant career scoring marks

All-American guard Aari McDonald and the sixth-ranked Wildcats will attempt to keep their unbeaten season alive today against Big Sky opponent Idaho, and within that, McDonald may reach one significant career scoring plateau and come closer to another.

Arizona (6-0) will play the Vandals (3-2) at noon at McKale Center. The game will be streamed live at ArizonaWildcats.com and can be heard on 1400-AM with Derrick Palmer calling the action.

McDonald, a fifth-year senior who transferred to Arizona after her freshman season, is only four points shy of joining the top five scorers in Wildcat history with 1,616 points. Elizabeth Pickney, who played at Arizona from 1998-2002, is currently at No. 5 with 1,620 points.

McDonald is also approaching 2,000 career points overall extending to her time with the Huskies in the 2016-17 season.

She is the leading active scorer in the nation with 1,889 points in 100 career games played, well ahead of Indiana’s Nicole Cardano-Hillary (1,771 points in 96 games).

Here are some notes for today’s game (compiled by Arizona media relations specialist Adam Gonzales):

• The Wildcats are ranked No. 6 in the AP poll, their highest ranking in school history.
• Arizona has won its first five Pac-12 games for the first time in school history.
• The Wildcats are coming off their first road sweep over Colorado and Utah in school history.
• Arizona has won 3 of their last 4 games vs. top-10 opponents and five of their last seven vs. top-25 opponents.
• McDonald was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday.
• She has scored in double-figures in 72-straight games, the longest active streak in the nation.
• McDonald is third in the Pac-12 in made 3-pointers and is shooting a career-high 35 percent this year.
• Sam Thomas is fifth in Arizona history in career blocked shots (146) and sixth in made threes (137). Pickney is No. 4 in career blocked shots with 147.
• She needs two more blocks to move into fourth place in Arizona history.
• Thomas is the career leader in blocks among all active Pac-12 players. No other Pac-12 player has 100 blocks.
• The Wildcats are 36-6 in their last 42 games, the best stretch in school history.
• Arizona has erased a double-digit deficit to win three times this season (against UCLA, USC and Colorado).
• The Wildcats have won 30-straight games when leading by at least 10 points at some point during the game.
• Arizona has been ranked in the AP Poll for 21 straight weeks for the first time since the 1999-00 season.

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.

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