Despite a solid defensive effort and an offensive turnaround in the second half, the Arizona women’s basketball team fell to California 78-74 in overtime Thursday at McKale Center.
The Wildcats fell to 13-9 overall and 2-8 in Pac-12 play, while the Golden Bears advanced to 16-6 overall and 7-3 in conference action.
Senior guard Shanita Arnold led the Wildcats with 18 points, going 4 for 5 from behind the arc. She also had four
rebounds, three assists and one steal in 43 minutes of play. Junior
guard Davellyn Whyte had 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two
steals in 37 minutes of play. Freshman center Aley Rohde collected her
second double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 boards, and sophomore guard Candice Warthen had 14 points, five rebounds and four
assists in 34 minutes.
"Obviously it was a tough loss, but we played harder than we have the past couple games," Arizona coach Niya Butts said. "We may have given up 20 offensive rebounds but we fought hard, and that’s all I can ask for. Our effort was good, and we just have to keep fighting.
"I’m happy that a lot of people stepped up tonight, and I really thought we were going to get the win. They may have had size, but we were up with two minutes to go, and we had an opportunity to win the game before overtime. It’s all about heart. We had that, but we need to work on closing out the game."
The Wildcats shot 35.2 percent from the field (25 for 71), 44.4 percent from 3-point range (8 for 18) and 64 percent from the charity stripe (16 for 25). Arizona pulled down 42 rebounds, the most Cal has given up all season.
For Arizona, the starting five included Arnold, Rohde, senior guard Reiko Thomas, freshman guard Layana White and Whyte. Warthen had the most minutes off the bench with 34.
"At halftime, I asked them what they were going to do now,” Butts said.
“We wanted to come out fighting in the second half, and we hit first. We
held them to about 15 percent shooting for most of the half, and even
though they made a comeback, I still saw a lot of good things from our
end. We have a lot of things to clean up, but I like the effort I saw
tonight."
For the Golden Bears, Reshanda Gray led the way with 22 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks and one steal in 30 minutes of play. Cal shot 40 percent from the field (30 for 75), 18.8 percent from behind the arc (3 for 16) and 55.6 percent from the free-throw line (15-27).
