TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona women's basketball team led from wire to wire to pick up its first victory of the season, 61-34 victory over UC Santa Barbara in front of a school-record setting crowd of 6,268 on Tuesday afternoon inside McKale Center.
Arizona (1-2) held UC Santa Barbara (0-5) to just 11-of-48 shooting from the field, tying the school record for the fewest field goals allowed. Arizona also held Cal State Fullerton to 11 field goals on Dec. 8, 1995.
Senior guard Candice Warthen led the Cats with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting while knocking down all three of her three-point attempts. Sophomore forward LaBrittney Jones scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while freshman forward Dejza James provided a huge spark off the bench, collecting a game-high 11 rebounds while adding five points.
Arizona outscored the Gauchos 26-6 in the paint and had a 17-2 edge in second-chance points.
Arizona jumped out to a quick 18-8 lead and closed the first half with a 29-14 advangtage. The Wildcats' defensive pressure continued into the second half, as they held UCSB to just two field goals over the first 13:06 of the half.
"I thought we did a good job of executing the game plan defensively. We were able to hold them to 22 percent from the field, 15 percent from the three-point line, so that's a solid effort," Ariona coach Niya Butts sid.
"Hopefully the team can get a sense of what it's like to get a win, what it's like to execute the game plan and understand what it's going to take for us to win a lot more.
"We still have to be a better executing offensively, no doubt about it. We have to finish better inside. We had a couple of opportunities to finish and we let those rim out, but we have to continue to be solid defensively as well."
