Arizona’s 90-65 loss at Iowa State on Saturday included the Wildcats having only four players on the court in the last 2:40 as a result of five players fouling out in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats’ fourth straight loss included 31 fouls that led to 31 fee throws for Iowa State, which made 20 of them.
Arizona (10-9, 1-7 Big 12) drew only 13 fouls and was 11 of 16 from the free-throw line.
“I may just play with four players because I think we outscored them when it was four-on-five,” Arizona coach Becky Burke quipped in the postgame press conference. “We might rethink that the next time we see them. But I’m proud of our effort in the second despite some of the adversity.”
Arizona outscored Iowa State 5-4 with four players, but Burke’s attention was mostly on the second half in which the Wildcats were outscored 37-36 after trailing 53-29 at halftime.
“We just didn’t guard well enough in the second half,” Burke said. “They were on pace for 106 at halftime. Obviously, we sat down and guarded a little bit better in the second half. We’re a team that has to fire on all cylinders that can’t miss a beat this season if we want to win basketball games.
“They know that. We’ve been challenging them on that so far this season.”
The Wildcats had five players foul out in the fourth quarter, including Molly Ladwig, Kamryn Kitchen, Achol Magot, Nora Francois and Noelani Cornfield.
The four players remaining on the court at the end were Sumayah Sugapong, Blessing Adebanjo, Mirela Jurado and Daniah Trammell.
Tanyuel Welch exited with 2:40 left because of an ankle injury, leaving four players on the court for Arizona. The status for Welch being able to play at Arizona State on Wednesday is undetermined.
Trammell did not enter the game until Cornfield fouled out with 3:07 left in the game.
Burke mentioned to reporters that Trammell and Jurado did not play until late in the game based on Iowa State utilizing a zone defense.
Arizona’s foul troubles against Iowa State (16-5, 4-5) follows the same problem in an 80-69 loss to Kansas at McKale Center on Tuesday. The Wildcats had three players foul out and two others had four fouls in that game.
“We have a fouling problem right now; it’s a discipline thing — we’re not being disciplined defenders,” Burke said. “It’s been kind of haunting us so far this season. We’re a little bit small, a little bit less athletic so we tend to want to use our hands and foul when we shouldn’t.
“We paid the price for it today.”
Iowa State All-American center Audi Crooks encountered foul problems herself, drawing four that limited her to 18 minutes. She finished with 17 points and five rebounds. The point total is nearly 10 below her scoring average of 26.3.
Former Arizona guard Jada Williams, who was a gametime decision to play because of an illness, finished with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field with seven assists and seven turnovers. She did not take part in the team’s shootaround before the game.
Burke said on the postgame radio show that Ladwig, a freshman, started for the first time this season because of the “energy” she brings.
Ladwig, who did not play against Kansas, finished with 10 points on 4-of-10 shots from the field with two steals.
Cornfield led the Wildcats with a team-high 19 points, whileSugapong added 13 points, marking her fifth consecutive game scoring in double figures. Francois led the team with eight rebounds, and Cornfield also led the Wildcats with five assists.
The Wildcats will play Arizona State (17-4, 4-4) in Tempe on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The Sun Devils are coming off consecutive losses, including 66-64 at Cincinnati on Saturday.
They have lost three of their last four games, all the defeats coming on the road. Arizona State is 11-0 at home.
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