Jada Williams rushes past a Weber State player during their game on Dec. 16 in McKale. Williams had a career high game with 24 total points.
The University of Arizona women's basketball team (15-10, 6-6 in Big 12) survived a thrilling 66-59 victory over ASU (8-16, 2-10 in Big 12) on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. in McKale Center.
With a season-high 8,370 fans in attendance at McKale, the atmosphere was electric right from tip-off. Arizona got off to a quick start, jumping to a 4-0 lead and holding ASU scoreless until the seven-minute mark.
Coming out of the media timeout, the Wildcats forced back-to-back turnovers from the Sun Devils to ignite a 6-0 scoring to extend the Arizona lead to 12-4 midway through the opening quarter.
Going into the second quarter with the Wildcats leading 15-9, ASU switched into a zone defense giving Arizona problems offensively. The Sun Devils were able to capitalize on the Wildcats' miscues ending the quarter on a 7-0 run and outscored Arizona 15-13 in the quarter heading into halftime down 28-24.
"We have to be better in finishing quarters strong, when we make a big play [...] we need to turn around and play great defense," head coach Adian Barnes said postgame.
Freshman Lauryn Swann led the Wildcats with 7 second-quarter points, totaling 10 points at the break. The Wildcat bench outscored the Sun Devil bench 12-2 and dominated in the paint scoring 14 points to ASU's 6.
To start the second half, the Arizona State's zone defense continued to give Arizona problems forcing the Wildcats into a two-minute scoring drought after Williams scored on the opening possession.
After a physical and fast-paced third quarter, the Sun Devils began to chip away at the Arizona lead, pulling to within a possession. The Wildcats, however, remained relentless getting to the free-throw line 13 times in the period but only sinking eight of those attempts giving the team a 44-41 lead.
In the final quarter of play, the Wildcat defense came to fruition putting ASU in a five-minute scoring drought. Sophomore's Jada Williams and Breya Cunningham each had 9 points in the period with Williams going 4-4 from the charity stripe. Cunningham shot 4-5 from the field leading the Wildcats to victory.
"Adia [Barnes] told me to keep shooting, eventually they'll fall, I was taking good shots," Cunningham said.
Cunningham ended the game with 16 points and eight rebounds on 7-12 shooting. Cunningham would finish right behind Williams who led the Wildcats with 18 points, 7 rebounds and a pair of steals going 6-13 from the floor.
Senior Isis Beh tallied 8 points and dished out five assists on the night, achieving 500 career points in her collegiate career.
"She's [Beh] worked really hard for us [...] she's kind of played herself into this role and I'm just proud of her," Barnes said.
Arizona took advantage of the transition opportunities outscoring ASU 16-9 in fastbreak points and generating 19 points off of ASU's 15 turnovers.