GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND, Bahamas – Junior Alli Gloyd scored a career-high 19 points to lead the Arizona women’s basketball team past Texas Southern 65-59 on Saturday at the Junkanoo Jam in The Bahamas.
Gloyd scored six points in the first 50 seconds of the game and finished 8 for 10 from the field. She also added six rebounds and two steals in the matchup. Senior Davellyn Whyte finished with 11 points for her 16th consecutive game scoring in double figures dating back to last season.
The Wildcats (4-2) shot 52.1 percent for the game to 33.9 percent for the Lady Tigers (3-3).
“Obviously, any time you get a win, you want to be satisfied with that,” Arizona head coach Niya Butts said. “We need to clean up some things in terms of turnovers, but as for shooting the ball, we shot it a lot better, over 50 percent, so you have to be pleased with that.”
Arizona stormed out to a 19-2 lead to start the game, holding the Lady Tigers to zero shot attempts until the 17:15 mark and forcing eight turnovers in the first four minutes. Gloyd matched her career-high in the first half with 12 points to give the Wildcats a 43-36 edge at the half.
Texas Southern made a run in the second half, getting to within three, but Arizona never trailed in the game and held on for the win.
“It was an ugly game,” Butts said. “We got a big lead, got in foul trouble so we had to play zone and just did some different things for us that were a little strange, but at the end of the day, we had people step up for us and make plays.”
The Wildcats will return to the states and face North Texas in Denton, Texas at 5 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Nov. 28.
