Arizona rallied from a 17-point deficit to force overtime but fell short 81-76 in overtime against Baylor on Wednesday night at McKale Center.
The Wildcats (11-6, 2-2 Big 12) hung tough playing without Montaya Dew and Katarina Kneževic (each out with the flu) and Skylar Jones and Sahnya Jah limited to minimal minutes because of how Isis Beh (team-high 18 points) and freshmen Mailien Rolf and Lauryn Swann stepped up.
Rolf had six assists and one turnover in 38 minutes while Swann had 16 points and no turnovers in 28 minutes.
“The freshmen did well,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. “Asking them to do well against two really good guards (veterans Jada Walker and Sarah Andrews), some of the best in the conference … for the freshmen to come and do the job, it’s remarkable. I’m really proud of them.”
Jada Williams also had 16 points, Paulina Paris finished with 14 and Breya Cunningham had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Wildcats trailed 66-56 with 6:23 left and they proceeded to allow Baylor only one field goal the rest of the way in regulation.
An 11-2 run for Arizona closed regulation.
Baylor went ahead 71-69 with 1.2 seconds left on two free throws by Walker following a questionable foul called on Rolf. Walker was out of control off the dribble and off-balance when she collided with Rolf near the basket.
After Arizona called timeout, Rolf inbounded the ball, throwing it near the basket to Beh, who caught it and immediately banked it in at the buzzer.
Paris made one of two free throw attempts with 1:21 left in overtime to cut the lead to 77-76.
After Walker made a jump shot, Williams could not convert on the other end.
Baylor followed with a shot-clock violation, giving Arizona the ball back with 12.7 second left.
Williams became isolated on top of the key against a defender and was unable to convert on a 3-point attempt with 3 seconds left.
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs was fouled with 1 second left, and she made both free throws to close the scoring.
“We’re in a really good conference; we’re probably going to play games like this every game,” Williams said. “Coming out here, going into practice, and being confident, being mentally prepared, focus on this and know that this is the level of intensity we’ll face every night.”
Baylor (13-3, 3-1) was led by Walker’s 16 points and nine assists and Littlepage-Buggs’ 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Former Arizona and Colorado post player Aaronette Vonleh finished with 15 points and six rebounds.
Arizona committed only 11 turnovers, five of which were made by Williams.
The biggest discrepancy was Baylor outrebounding Arizona 46-30. The Bears outscored Arizona 15-2 in second-chance points but Arizona topped Baylor 40-36 in points in the paint.
Beh’s production had a lot to do with the scoring in the lane.
She played her best game of the season shooting 8 of 10 from the field with six rebounds and four assists.
“I shot it when I was open because my coaches have been on me to shoot it when I’m open,” Beh said.
Williams interjected, “In practice, she’s a killer. She shoots from the 3-point line and does all this and thinks that’s not her role. We’ve been stressing to her, ‘You need to shoot at least nine times. Come on, bro. You’ve been killing it in practice.’
“Giving her that confidence in the game and staying on her and being a cheerleader in the game is what we’ve been doing.”
Beh reached 431 career points and 319 rebounds. Paris is at 451 career points and is three assists away from 100 assists in her career. Cunningham tallied her 14th double-figure game this season and now has 467 career points, 274 rebounds, and 93 blocks.
Arizona next hosts Iowa State and All-American center Audi Crooks on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Recommended for you
