The Wildcats’ healthy seniors put on a show in their final collegiate game at the McKale Center at ALKEME Arena. What started as a defensive stalemate ended in an offensive explosion as Arizona women’s basketball (12-16, 3-14) defeated Houston (7-21, 1-16) 75-67 in the regular season home finale.
“We knew this game meant a lot, just our prep going into it. Not only standings wise, but obviously it’s our senior night,” said Sumayah Sugapong after the game. “I mean, Micky (Perude), even when she’s out, these three bring a lot to our team leadership wise. We all look to them and we just wanted to send them out with a win, and yeah, we did.”
After a quiet 7-point outing on the road at Baylor, Sumyah Sugapong bounced back with a team-high 20 points, playing all 40 minutes while knocking down 6-16 from the field, including 2-6 from the perimeter, along with 6-7 from the free throw line. The lethal guard has now scored in double figures in 12 of the last 14 games for Becky Burke’s squad. Senior guard Noelani Cornfield added 18 more points on 6-12 from the field, as well as a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe. She also contributed a game-high nine assists, the most she has had since the loss versus Kansas in mid-January. Fellow senior Nora Francois finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, and was also a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.
On the night, Arizona shot 25-27 (92.6%) from the free throw line, marking just the fourth time this season the Wildcats have shot 25 or more attempts from the stripe. The ‘Cats were 23-24 from the line in the second half.
Houston’s Kyndall Hunter scored a game-high 21 points, connecting on 6-13 from the field, including 5-11 from 3-point range. TK Pitts had 12 points, with eight coming at the line for the Cougars, while forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim nearly finished with a double-double, adding 10 points and nine rebounds. Former Wildcat Jorynn Ross fouled out in 21 minutes of play, finishing with four points.
As it has in a number of games down the stretch of the season, Arizona led at the end of the first quarter, with a 13-7 advantage through the first 10 minutes. Freshman Molly Ladwig helped getting the scoring going early, showing off her footwork and handles on an impressive spinning layup. But the Wildcats’ second quarter woes reared their ugly head once again, as Houston took a 26-19 lead into the locker room at halftime after out-scoring the UA 19-6 in second quarter. Arizona was held scoreless from the 2:44 mark of the first quarter, to the 6:40 mark of the second, a drought of 6:04, that was finally ended by a Molly Ladwig triple.
Some of Arizona’s stall in the second quarter was due to the absence of Cornfield, who briefly exited the game with a bloodied lip and mouth after inadvertently getting hit in the face by a Houston defender.
“Bart (Jameson) told me she had to go get stitches and I said, ‘tell them to hurry up,'” said Burke postgame. “That’s toughness right there, to come back in and I think she was still just downhill and aggressive when she came back in and wasn’t babying it or anything like that.”
But the second half started out all Arizona. A Tanyuel Welch triple got things going in the third quarter, as the Wildcats used a 7-2 run over the first three minutes to cut Houston’s lead to one-possession. Arizona used another 6-0 run in the final two minutes of the third quarter to take a 44-43 lead, before trading one-point leads to end the third.
The Wildcats took over in the fourth quarter, with Sugapong willing her team and seniors to a win. A triple from Sugapong with 7:38 play gave the UA a two-point lead, and from there, it never looked back. Arizona used a pair of 6- and 7-point runs to balloon its lead to as many as 10 points, while shooting 15-16 from the free throw line over the final 6:33 to play.
On the night, Arizona connected on 23-53 (43.4%) from the field, while limiting Houston to 23-63 (36.5%) of its attempts. The Cougars had a 32-27 edge on the glass, as well as a slim 14-12 rebounding advantage, while the Wildcats forced one more turnovers (19 vs. 18).
Arizona concludes the regular season in Salt Lake City at Utah, before traveling to Kansas City for the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament, where it will be no-less than the 15-seed.