CLICK HERE FOR FREE PHOTOS OF ARIZONA’S GAME WITH OREGON STATE SHOT BY ALLSPORTSTUCSON.COM’S ANDY MORALES
Arizona took care of the ball and Koi Love, Cate Reese and Sam Thomas gave the Wildcats the boost they needed with top reserve post player Ariyah Copeland not in attendance to hold off Oregon State 73-61 on Sunday at McKale Center.
Arizona (17-3, 7-3 Pac-12) has defeated Oregon State (11-7, 4-4) four straight times over the last two seasons after losing to the Beavers 12 games consecutively.
The eighth-ranked Wildcats also swept Oregon and Oregon State at home in consecutive seasons, a feat not accomplished since the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
Arizona achieved a program record with only three turnovers, eclipsing the previous mark of four achieved four times previously (most recently in March 2019 against Oregon State).
Adia Barnes comments on Arizona’s program-record three turnovers against Oregon State which allowed the Wildcats to take 21 more FG attempts than the Beavers. pic.twitter.com/K0rysa0Wu5
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 6, 2022
Cate Reese played a career-high 40 minutes (the full game) because Copeland suffered from a migraine headache before the game and Adia Barnes sent her home.
Reese finished with 19 points and eight rebounds.
Her nine points in the fourth quarter enabled Arizona to pull away from Oregon State, which trailed by only two points entering the final period. Thomas, Helena Pueyo and Madison Conner also made pivotal 3-pointers in the quarter.
Love came off the bench to score 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field to earn the “Bang the Drum” honors after the game.
.@koilove10 is the worthy Bang the Drum honoree with 16 points off the bench. pic.twitter.com/goqRwCWP3B
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 6, 2022
Thomas finished with 10 points, putting her among the top 10 scorers in program history with 1,316 points passing Timi Brown’s mark of 1,315. Reese’s scoring put her into eighth on the list with 1,455, passing Ashley Whisonant’s 1,451 points.
Arizona’s ability to minimize its turnovers allowed the Wildcats to attempt 21 more field goals than Oregon State and it made up for the Beavers winning the rebounding battle 32-29 and outscoring the Wildcats 32-20 in the paint.
Oregon State had a consistently taller lineup inside with the Wildcats missing Copeland.
Barnes went with Reese and a lineup of guards and wings most of the game to take advantage of its speed and athleticism compared to Oregon State.
Reese held up well from the start against Oregon State’s frontcourt, which ranked seventh nationally in blocked shots entering the game, with eight points and four rebounds in the first half.
Reese finished making 6 of 18 shots from the field and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line.
Adia Barnes comments on Ariyah Copeland not staying at McKale for the game because of a migraine headache and Cate Reese playing a career-high 40 minutes as a result. pic.twitter.com/PD0z8YVNSN
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 6, 2022
.@s_thomas14 comments on the durable performance of longtime teammate @cate_reese, who held her own against Oregon State’s bigs playing a full 40 minutes with 19 points and eight rebounds while exhibiting toughness on D. pic.twitter.com/LSvIJ07pU9
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 6, 2022
Barnes also limited Lauren Ware‘s minutes after Ware was whistled for her second foul with 6:12 left in the first quarter. Ware played only 11 minutes and had five points.
Oregon State kept it to only a 36-34 halftime deficit by outrebounding Arizona 17-12 and by shooting 55.6 percent from the field, 62.5 percent from 3-point range in the first half.
A 7-0 run, including five free throws made by Shaina Pellington, gave Arizona a 45-36 lead with 6:01 left in the third quarter.
Oregon State rallied to score the last six points of the third quarter, including four free throws by Taya Corosdale, to cut the lead to 49-47 leading into the fourth quarter.
Make no mistake, Adia Barnes wants to win that Pac-12 average attendance battle with Oregon for many reasons, including recruiting. The game with ASU next Sunday will help. What will push Arizona to the top will be the Zona Zoo student section filling their seats. pic.twitter.com/0Ah7gDNGKv
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 6, 2022
Updated Pac-12 average attendance leaders:
1. Oregon: 7,609 in 11 games
2. Arizona: 7,462 (10)
3. Oregon State: 4,143 (8)
Arizona has never led the conference in average attendance.— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 6, 2022
After the Beavers cut the lead to 59-55 with 5:38 remaining on a second-chance layup by Kennedy Brown, they went without a field goal until 2:47 was left.
Arizona went on a 12-1 run in that stretch to take control of the game.
Reese had seven points, Thomas hit a 3-pointer and Love made a putback in that pivotal closeout run for the Wildcats.
.@koilove10 went from a 20 points-a-game scorer at Vanderbilt to an important player off the bench for Adia Barnes. She is handling that role well, evidenced by two very productive games against Oregon and Oregon State this weekend. pic.twitter.com/HLWX60u2Xv
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 6, 2022
Oregon State made only 1 of 11 shots from 3-point range in the second half after converting 5 of 8 in the first half. The Beavers shot 55.8 percent from the field overall in the first half and only 36 percent after halftime.
The Wildcats play at Arizona State on Friday at 7 p.m. and then they host the Sun Devils next Sunday at noon.
Charli Turner-Thorne’s team upset No. 19 Oregon 55-49 on Sunday. It also swept the Oregon schools.
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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. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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