Arizona hadn’t played a three-overtime game since the 2018-2019 season, until Sunday. It took three overtime periods, but Arizona pulled away from Washington, securing a 90-82 win and a home sweep of the Washington schools.
“These last two games we came out playing some of our best basketball in the first like five, seven minutes,” Arizona head coach Adia Barnes said about the Wildcats’ win over Washington and Friday night’s victory over Washington State.
Arizona (14-12, 6-8 Pac-12) and Washington (13-12, 3-11) last saw each other in January in Hec Ed Arena in Seattle, where the two teams battled down to the last second. Huskies’ Lauren Schwartz hit the game-winning layup in the last second
Sunday’s game almost ended in similar fashion.
With time running out in the game, Schwartz put up a contested fall away, off-balance jumper that went in the basket.
At first, it looked like the shot beat the buzzer, but after further review from the referees, the bucket was called off sending the game into overtime. The ball was on Schwartz’s finger tips when time ran out.
Isis Beh, the “Bang the Drum” player of the game, had a career high 29 points on 10-for-11 shooting from the field, including 2-for-2 from the arc.
She made 7-of-10 free throw attempts and added five rebounds and three assists.
Beh, who did not take a 3-point shot until Friday’s game against Washington State, has now made all three of her attempts from beyond the arc.
“I’ve been talking to the coaches, and they’ve been giving me more confidence,” Beh said about her 3-point shooting. “All season, my teammates have built the confidence, but now like I’m starting to have confidence within myself.”
Beh’s 10-for-11 shooting (90.9 percent) from the field is tied for the second-best field goal percentage this season in the Pac-12.
The glue in Arizona’s win over Washington was Pueyo, who was on the floor for all 55 minutes of the game – the most in a single game by a Pac-12 player since 1999-2000.
Pueyo tied her career high with 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the floor, 3-for-7 from the arc and 5-for-6 from the free throw line. She also had eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Pueyo has 280 steals, which puts her in a tie for 10th place in Pac-12 history.
Arizona started the game shooting 47.1 percent from the floor and went 3-for-5 from the arc.
Pueyo hit two 3-pointers, Skylar Jones added a layup and Breya Cunningham had three layups.
With 3:51 left in the first quarter, Arizona held a 14-0 lead.
Just when it looked like the McKale crowd would stand for the entire first quarter, Washington’s Chloe Briggs made a layup. The crowd finally sat down with 3:32 left in the quarter.
As the first quarter came to an end, Courtney Blakely hit a three from beyond the NBA arc at the buzzer to put the Wildcats up 21-7.
Washington clawed back in the second quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 24-17 and cutting Arizona’s lead to 38-31 at the half.
The Huskies continued their momentum into the third quarter, going on a 12-3 run to take a 46-45 lead to end the quarter.
Washington’s first lead came with 1:01 left in the quarter when Sayvia Sellers hit two free throws.
Once they had the lead, the Huskies didn’t let go and held a two-point lead with two minutes to go in regulation.
Arizona tied it up at 60-60 with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter on two Jada Williams free throws.
That tie would hold after the Schwartz basket was called off, sending the game into overtime.
Washington’s Elle Ladine hit a 3-pointer at the beginning of overtime. The Huskies held the lead until Pueyo hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 7 seconds remaining, sending the game into double-overtime.
The second overtime period was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than two points. Arizona held a two-point lead off of a Pueyo jump shot with 16 seconds to go. Washington’s Schwartz was fouled, making both free throws to put the game into triple-overtime.
Arizona came out with purpose in the third overtime, going on a 7-3 run to take an 84-80 lead. The Wildcats never looked back and held the lead until the final buzzer.
“This was a gritty win” Barnes said. “This was a must win game for us”
The Wildcats freshman crew also made their presents known.
Jada Williams finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.
Skyler Jones had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
Breya Cunningham added 10 points and 7 rebounds.
Arizona will travel to Stanford on Friday and then will face Cal in Berkeley, Calif., next Sunday.
The Wildcats will return home Feb. 29 against USC.
Game Extra:
Beh’s dad came down to the court and met her at the drum for a big hug. Proud day for the whole Beh family.
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