
Arizona withstood a fourth-quarter comeback from Cincinnati after getting out to a 16-point lead in the second quarter, beating the Bearcats 72-62 on Wednesday night at McKale Center.
A fast break layup by Cincinnati guard Tineya Hylton cut Arizona’s lead to two points before a 3-pointer by Skylar Jones made it a 5-point game with just under seven minutes remaining. Jada Williams hit a 3-pointer later in the quarter to extend Arizona’s lead back to nine points at 64-55 and a layup by Breya Cunningham put Arizona up 13 points with about a minute remaining to seal the deal.
Arizona (13-8, 4-4 Big 12) held a 15-2 lead after the first quarter, and a 10-point lead at halftime, but after three quarters, Cincinnati (11-6, 3-4 Big 12) cut the deficit to seven points.
“I’m proud of our team,” Arizona head coach Adia Barnes said. “We played a super gritty, good basketball team in Cincinnati. They play a similar style to us. Athleticism on the wings and are hard to guard one-on-one.”
Hylton and Cincinnati forward Jillian Hayes were a handful for the Wildcats after the first quarter. Hylton had 25 points and Hayes had 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Barnes was particularly concerned with how Arizona would matchup with Hayes but was pleased with the toughness the team showed down the stretch.
“Their four, Hayes, is really good, and that was a matchup that I was kind of worried about. They just outmuscled us in the second half, but we still found a way to come up with a win. So I’m happy about that.”
Hylton and Hayes each had 10 points in the third quarter, and combined for 10 in the fourth quarter.
“We just couldn’t find an answer for Hylton or Hayes, and they were scoring all the points,” Barnes said of their play in the second half.
Arizona held a 24 to 16 rebounding advantage in the first half, but by the end of the third quarter, Cincinnati had matched Arizona at 30 rebounds. Arizona finished with a 41 to 38 rebound advantage, but Cincinnati outrebounded Arizona on the offensive glass by eight.
Barnes said foul trouble by Isis Beh and Breya Cunningham made them timid going for offensive rebounds down the stretch.
“They rallied. They had a large deficit. We know that their team was never going to die. They played for their coach, and they play well and they play hard, but I think it really hurt us on offensive rebounds, because it put us in foul trouble,” Barnes said. “I think what it did was it made our post really reluctant to box out because we were getting fouls on boxing out.”
Jones led the team in scoring with 16 points. All of which came in the second half.
She said she was motivated by Barnes who challenged her at halftime.
“I need a little kick in the butt sometimes to get myself mentally in the right headspace because when I’m in a good headspace, that’s when I play my best,” she said. “So, I’m glad that my coach knows how to do that. Even when I’m mad and I feel like it’s not what I want, I know that she’s doing it for a reason.”
Williams had 14 points, four assists and four rebounds.
Paulina Paris had 10 points and two assists.
Cunningham had nine points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
It was all Arizona out of the gate. Cincinnati shot a dismal 7% from the field in the first quarter.
The Bearcats missed their first seven shots, and Arizona pulled away to an early 8-0 lead. A jumper and a 3-pointer from Lauryn Swann extended Arizona’s lead to 13-0 later in the quarter. The Wildcats held a 15-2 lead heading into the second quarter, but Arizona’s 11 turnovers in the first half helped keep Cincinnati in the game.
A 3-pointer by Cincinnati’s Chloe Mann cut Arizona’s lead to 23-12 midway through the second quarter. Hayes finished off a three-point play with under two minutes left in the half to make it a 10-point game at 32-22 at halftime.
Swann took an elbow to the head in the waning seconds of the half and did not return. She was Arizona’s leading scorer in the first half with 10 points.
“She’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow, but we should have her this weekend,” Barnes said.
Cincinnati cut Arizona’s lead to five points on two occasions early in the second half. A jumper by Jones extended Arizona’s lead to eight points at 44-36 midway through the third quarter.
The win on Wednesday night was its second straight in Big 12 play. Arizona snapped a three-game losing streak and split a road trip with a 74-59 win at Kansas on Sunday after losing to No. 10 Kansas State on Jan. 16.
Arizona hosts No. 16 West Virginia (16-3, 6-2 Big 12) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at McKale Center.
FOLLOW @KEVINMURFEE ON TWITTER!ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News & the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.













