Arizona coach Adia Barnes is not ready to end her hope for an NCAA tournament bid, and she indicated the Wildcats may play in the WNIT if it comes to that after her team lost its first game in the Big 12 tournament on Thursday to Colorado at Kansas City, Mo.
The Wildcats are 19-13 overall after the 61-58 loss. Their NET ranking was No. 56 entering the game.
Colorado (20-11) is at No. 58.
“I’m hoping we have a chance (for the NCAA tournament),” Barnes said in the postgame press conference. “I don’t think this (loss to Colorado) was a deciding factor to make it to the tournament, but I think we could have put ourselves in a really good position.
“I’m hoping we still have done enough with our body of work to get into the tournament. So hopefully no mid-major upsets (in the conference tournaments) right now, knock on wood.”
Arizona did not have a bad loss — 13-0 against Quad 4 teams — and it is 3-2 against Quad 3 teams. The Wildcats are 3-11 against Quad 1 and Quad 2 teams.
The best win was against West Virginia, No. 11 in the NET rankings, at McKale Center on Jan. 25.
When Barnes was asked about agreeing to play in the WNIT, which Arizona won in 2018-19, she said: “As of now, yes.”
QUAD SYSTEM BREAKDOWN
- Quad 1: Home games against teams ranked 1-25, neutral site games against teams ranked 1-35, and road games against teams ranked 1-45.
- Quad 2: Home games against teams ranked 26-55, neutral site games against teams ranked 36-65, and road games against teams ranked 46-80.
- Quad 3: Home games against teams ranked 56-90, neutral site games against teams ranked 66-105, and road games against teams ranked 81-130.
- Quad 4: Home games against teams ranked 91+, neutral site games against teams ranked 106+, and road games against teams ranked 131+.
Colorado freshmen Tabitha Benson and Kennedy Sanders combined for 30 points for the ninth-seeded Buffaloes.
Betson finished with 16 points and Sanders 14.
Colorado will play No. 1 seed and No. 8-ranked TCU in a quarterfinal game Friday.
Skylar Jones finished with a game-high 17 points for Arizona, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.
Jada Williams, playing in her hometown, finished with 13 points, including eight of Arizona’s 10 fourth-quarter points.
“It was special (for family and friends) to come out and watch me in a city I was raised in, learned how to play basketball in,” Williams said. “Obviously, it wasn’t the outcome that we liked, but I love my teammates, and this is my family.
“Being able to step on the court today was special, and they shared a moment with me as well. My family is their family, and we’re all super close. It was a blessing, but, of course, we wanted to win that game.”
The Wildcats led 50-40 after Jones made a layup with 9:15 left. Williams scored the rest of the way while Colorado became hot from the field.
The Buffaloes made 8 of 15 shots (53.3 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter.
Liah Garzon scored all nine of her points in the fourth quarter and Sanders had seven.
Arizona went cold in the fourth quarter, making 4 of 16 shots from the field, 1 of 7 from 3-point range.
Garzon scored on consecutive possessions to give Colorado a 58-56 lead with 1:28 remaining. The baskets were part of an 11-3 run for Colorado.
“Basketball is a game of runs, and they came on a run at a good time,” Jones said. “It was hard for us to come back from that.”
Kindyll Wetta then made two free throws and Williams countered with a jump shot after driving into the lane.
After Betson made 1 of 2 free throws Arizona’s Isis Beh (10 points and 14 rebounds) called timeout after scrambling for a rebound with 12.8 remaining.
Jones got an open look from 3-point range but the shot hit off the rim.
Barnes said the play was not designed for Jones to take a 3-pointer, “but it was actually a good read by Jada (who passed the ball to Jones off penetration).
” It was set up to go to Jada or possibly Lauryn. We had three options. And then Jada made a great read because of how they played and switched, and Skylar had a wide-open look. Skylar is one of our highest percentage 3-point shooters. With shooters around, it was a good look.”
An 8-0 run after consecutive 3-pointers by freshman Lauryn Swann put the Wildcats ahead 40-31 with 4:54 left in the third quarter. Arizona took a 48-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
Arizona looked strong from the beginning, taking a 14-3 lead in the first quarter.
After Arizona led 21-14 with 5:47 left in the second quarter, Colorado scored eight unanswered points that included 3-pointers by Sara-Rose Smith and Johanna Teder. That was Teder’s only points of the game.
The game may be the last for Beh, a fifth-year senior, if Arizona does not advance to the NCAA tournament or WNIT.
Beh and Williams each played 37 minutes to lead the Wildcats. Beh was forced to play that many minutes after Breya Cunningham again encountered foul trouble with four fouls by the third quarter.
“Did I want her to play 37?” Barnes said of Beh’s minutes. “No, I wanted her to play less, because she is on the top of our press, but she plays her heart out, and she wanted to win this game. So I’m proud of how she has been the whole season and she has been consistent.
“I’m sad she doesn’t have another year of eligibility, but she didn’t want her season to end. I hope for her, I hope it didn’t end today.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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