Becky “The Builder” Burke and the Arizona women’s basketball team built a defensive stonewall against visiting Northern Colorado on Tuesday night, winning 84-58 at McKale Center.
The Wildcats are now on a five-game win streak to start their season while the Bears fell to 5-2.
Daniah Trammell led the team with 22-points followed by Kamryn Kitchen with 16 and Mireia Jurado with 12. All three are freshmen. Trammell and Jurado are true freshman and Kitchen redshirted last year at Virginia.
“Probably the ultimate team win we’ve had so far this season,” Burke said. “We talked about it in the locker room. I think everybody ate a little bit tonight and everyone had their moments.”
Northern Colorado got off to a hot start, sinking back-to-back 3-pointers before the Wildcats were able to answer back with Trammel making a running layup to give Arizona a 6-2 lead.
Trammell and Jurado kept the Wildcats in the game in the first quarter, combining for 11 points to take the lead.
“I just try to keep it simple. As a freshman, it is kind of overwhelming being in a game but I’m nothing without my teammates,” Trammell said about her performance. “They know my favorite spots around the court, and they just gave me the ball.”
The defense is what helped Arizona get back in the game, keeping the Bears at 5-of-17 shooting in the quarter and 8 of 29 in the half.
Arizona also stopped Northern Colorado from scoring a field goal for more than seven minutes in the second quarter.
Trammell continued to dominate, finishing the half with 11 points followed by Noelani Cornfield with six.
The ball movement also stood out in the second quarter with Arizona notching six assists compared to none by Northern Colorado.
“Keep the ball moving, which will ultimately result in assists — that was something we wrote on the board today,” said Burke, whose team finished with 22 assists. “That was something we wrote on the board in pregame, balls got to move today.”
The third quarter went much of the same way with the Bears never getting into a rhythm offensively. They did not make a field goal for the last 6:30. That included a two-minute scoring drought.
In that time, Kitchen hit back-to-back 3’s and a couple of free throws. Half of her points came in the third quarter.
Jurado played the role of offensive closer, scoring seven-points in the fourth quarter after Arizona led 59-42 following the third quarter.
The Wildcats’ defense continued to be stingy, forcing the Bears into another scoring drought in the fourth quarter. They failed to score in the last 2:59 of the game.
“We’re a really defensive-minded team; we know that defense is going to fuel our offense,” Burke said. “That’s a really good team. They were 5-1 coming in here. They just beat a team in the Big East at their house (at DePaul, 61-60, on Saturday). That’s the best team we played so far this year, and it was our largest margin of victory. I feel good about that from a defensive standpoint.”
Burke and the Wildcats will put their undefeated record on the line against Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday at 6 p.m. at McKale Center.
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