TUCSON, Ariz. – Senior Davellyn Whyte led the Arizona women's basketball team with 16 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals in her home finale Sunday, but it wasn't enough to get past No. 16 UCLA in a 68-57 loss Sunday at McKale Center.
The Senior Day loss dropped the Wildcats to 12-16 overall and 4-13 in the Pac-12; the Bruins improved to 23-6 and 14-4.
“She (Whyte) has meant a lot to what we are trying to do,” Arizona coach Niya Butts said. “If you look at her complete body of work aside from postseason play, that’s all you can really ask for in a player.”
Junior Alli Gloyd added nine points and eight rebounds, while senior Cheshi Poston finished her last game at McKale with five points on 2-of-2 shooting and three rebounds.
As a team, the Wildcats forced 17 Bruins turnovers while committing just 14 and went to the free throw line 24 times to UCLA’s 12.
Arizona came out strong in the first half, starting the game on a 7-0 run, but UCLA soon followed with an 8-0 run of its own. The Bruins controlled most of the scoring from that point, but the Wildcats stayed close and went into the locker down 35-27.
In the second half, Whyte and Barnes scored the first six points for Arizona to narrow the margin to five, but UCLA answered with a 10-2 run. The Wildcats responded with a 7-0 run of their own but could not close the gap the rest of the way down the stretch.
“In the second half, we did better with offensive rebounds and were able to catch up a little, whether it was because they were missing more shots, or we were making more,” Butts said. “It’s a tough go; I wanted our seniors to go out with a win. We just have to continue to push forward.”
Senior Alyssia Brewer and freshman Nirra Fields led UCLA with 22 and 21 points, respectively.
Arizona will begin postseason play when it travels to Seattle for the Pac-12 tournament beginning on Thursday.
