Brights spots not enough as Arizona Women’s Basketball falls 88-69 against Oklahoma State

If Arizona played four first quarters, instead of a four-quarter game, the Wildcats may have just come out on top. Instead, the UA’s game consisted of the usual ebbs and flows we’ve come accustom to seeing during a 40-minute game this season. And while first-year head coach Becky Burke was once again encouraged by some of the bright spots she saw on Sunday, she is still looking for her team to put it all together, as Arizona Women’s Basketball fell 88-69 against Oklahoma State.

“I thought we showed glimpses as usual, of being able to execute a game plan and play really, really hard within that game plan,” said Becky Burke after the game. “And you know, the same kind of moral of the story is that glimpses are not going to be enough for this year’s team, and it’s going to take the perfect storm and us putting together a 40 minute game, which again, we did not do tonight.”

If there was a bright spot for the team on Sunday, it was the first quarter. The Wildcats jumped out to five-point lead midway through the first quarter. Nora Francois had two strong layups near the rim, both off assists from freshman guard Kam Kitchen, while Sumayah Sugapong got her game going early with one of her five-made 3-pointers.

Arizona forced eight turnovers, including four offensive fouls, but an 11-3 run by Oklahoma State over the final three minutes allowed the Cowgirls to take a 21-18 lead into the second quarter.

But those glimpses started to dwindle as Oklahoma State strung together defensive stops and Arizona abandoned passing the ball and started settling for low-percentage jumpers, a trend that continued for most of the remainder of the game, outside of a small stretch on either end of the third quarter. Burke understands that basketball is a game of runs and has its flow, but pointed out that the lack of consistency is ultimately what is causing the build up in the loss column.

“We’re gonna go back and dive through this thing, because in every game, that’s what’s so frustrating, is that there’s so many bright spots in every game we play, but the consistency is not there yet for us to be able to put it all together and have that perfect storm of being able to execute for 40 minutes.”

Some of the examples Burke is alluding to here include the Wildcats getting outscored 25-12 in the second quarter, giving up a 12-0 run midway through the third after coming out of the locker room on an 8-2 run of their own, or allowing the Cowgirls to turn 18 turnovers into 29 points.

“I just told my assistants, because every time we go in the locker room, they’re like, the bright spot was this. I’m like, I don’t want more bright spots. Stop. I’m done with the bright spots. But yeah, it’s these over here for this game, then the bright spots here, and then the bright spots there, and it’s just like, Okay, I just want one bright spot for 40 minutes.”

If there’s one bright spot Burke and the Wildcats can build on, it’s the emergence of Sumayah Sugapong, especially in the wake of Mickayla Perdue’s injury. The junior guard is on a tear since Arizona’s leading scorer suffered a wrist injury back in early January. Sugapong has scored in double figures in seven-straight games, but leveled up her game against the Cowgirls, scoring a season-high 25 points. She shot an efficient 9-of-16 (56.3%) from the field, including a blistering 5-of-7 (71.4%) from the perimeter.

“They just kept going under stuff. So, I just kept shooting it. But, yeah, just trying to take what they gave me and staying aggressive throughout the whole game,” said Sugapong following her best outing as a Wildcat.

She also committed just two fouls, an encouraging sign after fouling out in two of the previous three games.

So while the road doesn’t get easier from here, with Arizona hosting Kansas State before road trips to West Virginia and Cincinnati, if the Wildcats can focus on one bright spot at a time, whether it’s feed Sumayah Sugapong, not letting the offense get stagnant, or something else Becky Burke and Co. notice in film study, it may be just the trick they need to snap their six-game skid.