It was a past meets present night in McKale as Arizona welcomed back Wildcat great Aari McDonald.
The 2022 Ring of Honor inductee and Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year was selected third overall in the 2021 WNBA Draft by the Atlanta Dream and currently is with the Indiana Fever.
McDonald, the highest drafted Arizona player in program history, was honored on Friday night on Aari McDonald Night.
Arizona made sure the night ended on a positive note as the Wildcats defeated Northern Arizona 87-76 in front of a season-high crowd of 5,613.
The Wildcats extending their winning streak to start the season to four games.
Arizona coach Becky Burke will take the win, but she was not happy with how her team performed.
“Obviously, I’m thankful for the win, and anytime you can win, we’re appreciative of that, and it’s hard earned, but I’m disappointed in a lot of different ways and a lot of different areas,” said Burke.
“It was not a clean game. It was not a pretty game. Not a game that I loved our attention to detail and following the prep and the scout. I just thought some things got loose. I didn’t think we had toughness for a lot of it. Just one of those games where you win, but it doesn’t feel like you won. And I don’t do ugly wins. I want to see our team continue to improve and get better. And we just gave up 76 points to a team that I thought we were going to be able to keep in the 50s.”
Rebounding has been a big point of emphasis for Burke all season. NAU beat Arizona on the boards in Friday’s game, out rebounding the Wildcats 33-24.
NAU, who beat Arizona twice last season, came into the game prepared and was not intimidated playing in McKale.
With both teams scoreless through two minutes of the first quarter, the Lumberjacks’ shots started to fall and with six minutes to go in the quarter held a 9-2 lead.
At the end of the first quarter NAU led Arizona 15-14.
Arizona continued its strong second quarter showing outscoring NAU 23-16 to go into the locker room at the half with a 37-31 lead.
At halftime, McDonald was honored with a video montage of her accomplishments at Arizona and in the WNBA that featured former Arizona teammates Trinity Baptiste, Sam Thomas, Cate Reese, Semaj Smith and Tee Tee Starks, as well as a few current Fever teammates.
Halftime ceremony honoring Aari McDonald. @AllSportsTucson pic.twitter.com/ozX5SpZfco
— Lori Burkhart (@loriburkhart) November 22, 2025
Behind Micky Perdue’s 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the floor and 3 for 6 from beyond the arc, the Wildcats ended the third quarter leading NAU 66-57.
Perdue ended the night with 27 points, three rebounds and two assists.
The Lumberjacks weren’t going away without a fight.
NAU cut Arizona’s lead down to four points with 7:12 left in the game before Perdue hit a three and was fouled.
Perdue hit the free throw completing the four point play extending the Wildcats’ lead to eight.
Arizona outscored NAU in the fourth quarter 21-19 to secure the win.
Freshman Molly Ludwig was a spark for the Wildcats off the bench.
Ludwig scored seven points, had four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 18 minutes of playing time.
“If I am in a good mood talking about somebody tonight, it is Molly, because she is so coachable, she is so competitive,” Burke said.
“She gets straight A’s, she welcomes criticism and feedback and discipline and all those. She’s a great teammate. She’s always in the gym. I mean, she’s a dream. Everybody needs multiple Molly Ladwigs on their team, and we’re better because she’s on our team and she’s going to continue to play more and more and more because, again, I’m going to play the people that do what they’re asked, the people that are tough, hard-nosed and just are coachable.”
Sumayah Sugapong hit the 1,000-career point mark and ended the game with 11 points, five assists, four steals and two rebounds.
Salpointe Catholic standout Hannah Williams is a freshman at NAU and saw some playing time during the Arizona game.
“It feels great. It feels like a giant hug getting to see like my community, my family, my friends in the stands like that just feels like a dream come true,” Williams said about coming home and playing in McKale.
Caught up with Hannah Willams after the NAU and Arizona game.
Williams played at Salpointe and is now a freshman at NAU.
Huge thank you to NAU SID Maxwell for getting the interview set up. @AllSportsTucson @NAUWomensHoops pic.twitter.com/FNIOh5suoq
— Lori Burkhart (@loriburkhart) November 22, 2025
Next Up:
Arizona hosts Northern Colorado on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
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