The Arizona women’s basketball team dropped its final regular-season road game Saturday, losing 72-58 to UCLA. Arizona fell to 14-15 overall and 3-14 in Pac-12 play, while UCLA improved to 14-13 overall and 9-7 in conference action.
Sophomore guard Candice Warthen led the Wildcats with 17 points, going 7 for 16 from the field and 3 for 4 from 3-point range. She also had
four rebounds, two assists and one steal. Arizona also got double-digit
efforts from junior guard Davellyn Whyte with 12 points and senior guard
Shanita Arnold with 11. Whyte also had eight rebounds, two assists, a
block and a steal, while Arnold had four assists, three rebounds and two
steals.
“I’m really not sure what’s going on right now,” head coach Niya Butts said. “We had more than enough to win this basketball game, but we just didn’t get it done for whatever reason. We should have been using the gaps and attacking the basket with the ball. We disappeared in the second half. I’m not sure why we aren’t responding like we should be.”
Despite losing the rebounding battle, Arizona had 14 second-chance points on 17 offensive rebounds and scored 20 points off 18 UCLA turnovers. The Wildcats shot 31.9 percent from the field (22 for 69), 21.7 percent from behind the arc (5 for 23) and 64.3 percent from the free-throw line (9 for 14).
UA's starting five included Arnold, sophomore forward Erica Barnes, freshman guard Erin Butler, freshman guard Layana White and Whyte. Warthen had the most minutes off the bench with 31.
For UCLA, senior forward Rebekah Gardner had 21 points, going 9 for 14 from the field and 3 for 3 from 3-point range. She was one of four Bruins to score in double figures. UCLA shot 49.2 percent from the field (29 for 59), 71.4 percent from the 3-point line (5 for 7) and 56.3 percent from the charity stripe (9 for 16).
