Losing to West Texas A&M in the Wildcats’ first exhibition game last Thursday was a gut check moment for Arizona.
How would the team respond in the second and final exhibition game before the start of the regular season?
For Arizona, the second time was the charm as they defeated Cal State LA 59-43 on Thursday night at McKale Center.
“Bear Down everyone. Bear Down. Happy, happy podium today,” Arizona coach Becky Burke said after the game.
“I wanted to see the response of our team. We improved today. We got better today. We got the monkey off our back. I mean, it wasn’t perfect but we needed to improve on some things and I saw them improve. I just told them in the locker room, ‘We don’t need to be ready to win a Big 12 championship tomorrow.’ Did we get better from yesterday? Did we get better from last Thursday? I would say the answer is definitely yes.”
Noelani Cornfield played a solid game on both sides of the ball leading the Wildcats in scoring with 13 points. She added seven rebounds, three assists and four steals.
She's a thief.. Cornfield just picked another pocket for the steal and score.
A little flex from Cornfield got her a T. Cal State LA hit one out of two free throws.
At the 4:57 media timeout Arizona leads Cal State LA 40-28. @AllSportsTucson
— Lori Burkhart (@loriburkhart) October 31, 2025
“That’s what Lani does,” Burke said. “She sets the tone, she sets the pace, you need a little run, you need some momentum she’s gonna pick somebody’s pocket, she’s gonna make a hustle play. She’s a tone setter for us”.
“I’m small and I’m quick and I’m lower to the floor the ball is always near me and I’m quick so like whatever I’ve got to do to get a win,” Cornfield said. “That’s what I’m gonna do regardless if I’ve got to get the bruises. If I’ve got to do whatever so someone else can shine or we get the win that’s what I’m going to do.:
Coming into Thursday’s game, one of the points of emphasis for Burke was getting the bigs more involved.
Forward Nora Francois heard what her coach was preaching and responded.
Francois, a fifth year senior transfer from New Orleans came one rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. She also had one blocked shot, one assist and one steal.
“We needed someone to step up, I thought she came in and I thought she did her job at a high level,” Burke said on Francois.
Arizona won the battle of the glass, out-rebounding the Golden Eagles 45-31.
Cal State LA held a 9-4 lead with 7:57 left in the first quarter until back to back threes by Mireia Jurado and Sumayah Sugapong put Arizona ahead 10-9.
At the end of the first quarter Arizona led Cal State LA 21-9.
Despite the Golden Eagles outscored the Wildcats 14-13 in the second quarter, Arizona went into the locker room at the half leading Cal State LA 34-23.
With Arizona holding a 41-29 lead, a flagrant-one was called on Sugapong. The flagrant-one started a run for Cal State LA which cut the lead to 45-38 at the end of the third quarter.
While Sugapong was falling, after she appeared to be tripped, she landed on the ball and rolled. Her foot came up and hit a Cal State LA player in the face.
The Wildcat faithful didn’t like the call and let the refs hear it.
Burke said the refs explained that even though the kick wasn’t intentional, any time there is contact to the face it will result in a flagrant foul.
Arizona went on a 10-0 run at the end of the fourth quarter and with 40 seconds left in the game, the Wildcats held their biggest lead at 16.
In addition to Cornfield and Francios hitting double digits, Mckayla Perdue turned it up in the second half and ended the game with 11 points.
Kamryn Kitchen saw the floor for 20 minutes Thursday night going 4-4 from the free thrown line, grabbing four rebounds and had one assist and one steal.
“Kam (Kamryn) is so talented,” Burke said. “Happy for those 20 minutes because I think she will feel more confident, feel better after this game, get some legs under her. She hasn’t played college basketball. She’s a top 50 kid out of high school that enrolled early at Virginia, had a surgery, got hurt.”
Tanyual Welch was out for the game with a “little medical issue,” Burke said. Welch is expected back for next Thursday’s game against UC Riverside.
“Our fans showed up for us again and they’ve just been tremendous and we are going to need them this year. We are going to need them to be patient with us but we showed up today,” Burke said on the 5,028 fans in attendance.
“Obviously when we are going on our runs, the energy is up, you hear the roar it helps everything, everybody. But it’s great I hope to continue to see them keep coming to the games, I hope I see more and they’re going to help us,” Cornfield said on the impact of the crowd.
“This is all new to me,” Francois added. “It’s a different atmosphere it’s definitely motivating like you can draw and feel yourself from the energy that is literally radiating from McKale.”
Arizona will open their regular season in McKale on Thursday against UC Riverside. Tip off is set for 6:00 p.m.
Game Extra:
Some final words from Tucson’s own Achol Magot. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/jLyhYiclPI
— Lori Burkhart (@loriburkhart) October 31, 2025
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