Arizona Women's Basketball

Arizona salvages road split, snaps losing streak in win over Kansas behind balanced effort



Jada Williams was one of Arizona’s leading scorers in its win at Kansas (Arizona Athletics photo)

Arizona snapped its three-game losing streak with a dominating, balanced effort from beginning to end in a 74-59 victory over Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan., on Sunday.

The Wildcats (12-8, 3-4 Big 12) salvaged a split on the road after losing 62-47 at Kansas State on Thursday night.

Arizona reserves Lauryn Swann and Montaya Dew spearheaded an effort that enabled the Wildcats to outscore Kansas’ bench players 32-2.

Swann finished with 17 points with only one turnover in 27 minutes.

Dew, getting more opportunities with Sahnya Jah missing her third straight game because of a coach’s decision, finished with a career-high 11 points. She also had five rebounds and two blocked shots.

Fellow reserve Mailien Rolf made both of her field-goal attempts and finished with four points. She also had two assists and no turnovers in 15 minutes.

Jada Williams had 13 points with five assists and only one turnover in 32 minutes.

“We didn’t want to leave this road trip without at least a split,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said during the postgame radio interview on 1400-AM. “We’re in a tough situation now. We’ve lost (three) straight, so I think just knowing that this is a team (Kansas) that we felt really good about, we needed to come in here and get a win.

“They’re a good team, too. Everybody’s good in the Big 12.”

Kansas (12-6, 2-5) was led by S’Mya Nichols‘ game-high 21 points.

Arizona never trailed in the game after taking an 8-2 lead four minutes into it with Breya Cunningham and Isis Beh each contributing to the early scoring in the paint.

Dew’s 3-pointer with 1:25 left in the first quarter put Arizona ahead 19-9.

A 10-2 run in the second quarter, capped by Beh’s sixth career 3-pointer, increased the lead to 30-15 with 5:07 left until halftime.

Beh, who made 3 of 5 from the field including her lone 3-point attempt, finished with her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“She continues to play at a high level and continues to be really confident, shoot a great percentage, and she’s just giving us some good minutes,” Barnes said of Beh. “She’s playing really good basketball.”

Arizona’s lead grew to as many as 17 points. The Wildcats held at least a double-figure lead throughout the second half.

Paulina Paris finished with 11 points to give Arizona five double-figure scorers.

“They were just really confident,” Barnes said of the play of her guards. “I thought the ball was moving really well. Paulina came out aggressive. I thought Jada was (as well). They took open shots. I thought Lauryn gave us great energy off the bench. We did a pretty good job of sharing (18 assists on Arizona’s 27 made field-goal attempts).”

The Wildcats shot 50.9 percent from the field, including a 9-of-22 performance from 3-point range. Swann led that effort going 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.

Arizona’s defense forced Kansas into 15 turnovers that led to 18 points (while Kansas had only five points off 12 turnovers by the Wildcats).

“We really had an emphasis last couple days in practice of pushing the ball (after forcing a turnover),” Barnes said. “I thought we just dribbled the ball a lot (in the previous losses). So Jada and the guards were really being conscientious about pushing the ball up and looking for that. They were able to do that. So I’m proud of them for actually executing what I asked.”

Arizona returns to McKale Center on Wednesday at 6 p.m., when it will host Cincinnati. The Wildcats will then host No. 20 West Virginia on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

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