No. 18 Arizona finishes strong to pull away from Long Beach State & Cienega grad Green

Information from Arizona’s media-relations department contributed to this report:

Esmery Martinez scored 19 points and Jade Loville had 18 for No. 18 Arizona, which outscored Long Beach State 28-12 in the fourth quarter to pull away to an 86-64 victory Sunday.

Loville and Martinez combined to score 20 of Arizona’s points in the quarter.

Shaina Pellington added 15 points in the game, Cate Reese had 14 and Lauren Fields 10 for the Wildcats (4-0).

Long Beach State (1-2) features former Cienega standout Lauren Green, who was the AllSportsTucson.com Player of the Year when she was a senior in 2017-18. Green had two rebounds in 10 minutes.

Arizona’s starters all reached double-figures in their scoring and combined to shoot 27 for 55 while its bench shot 4 for 6. Arizona had nine players who scored.

Long Beach State led 16-10 after the first quarter and started the second quarter with a 9-2 run for a 13-point lead before Arizona outscored the 49ers 28-14 over the final eight minutes of the half for a 40-39 lead at halftime.

The Wildcats have won their first four contests. Last year, they won their first 11, seven the year before that and 13 in the 2019-20 season.

Arizona next plays in the San Diego Thanksgiving Classic against Cal Baptist on Friday at 5 p.m. They play host San Diego on Saturday at 5.

NOTES

• With Sunday’s win improving Arizona’s record to 4-0 to start the 2022-23 season, the Wildcats have now started 4-0 in each of the last four seasons.
• The 22-point win over Long Beach State also extended Arizona’s winning streak in the month of November to 22 consecutive wins.
• Loville, formerly of ASU, finished Sunday’s win with a season-high 18 points, which surpassed her previous of 12 points in the win over Cal State Northridge.
• The Wildcats forced 20 Long Beach State turnovers, extending the team’s forced turnover streak to at least 20 in all four games this season.
• Reese grabbed a season-best nine rebounds. 
• Arizona connected on 10 shots from beyond the arc to give the team its first game of 10 or more made 3-pointers since connecting on 13 against New Mexico on Dec. 12, 2021.
• With 86 points Sunday, Arizona is now averaging 93.3 points per game through its first four games of the season, which ranks in the top five nationally.
• Reese and Martinez have scored ten or more points in each of Arizona’s first four games of the season.