Citizen Staff Writer
ARIZONA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
KEN BRAZZLE
kbrazzle@tucsoncitizen.com
The University of Arizona women’s basketball team has gone from occupying last place in the Pac-10 to being on the verge of pulling off a road sweep.
The Wildcats (8-11, 1-7) beat Washington 65-51 on Thursday, and visit Washington State at 3 p.m. Saturday (1400 AM).
UA, Washington and WSU are tied for last in the conference at 1-6.
The UW win was huge, as it enabled Arizona to snap a seven-game losing streak.
“It certainly felt good,” said Arizona coach Niya Butts after she got her first Pac-10 win. “We’ve been working hard and just hadn’t been getting the results. We did some things right.”
One of those things was getting senior forward Amina Njonkou involved.
When Njonkou is at the top of her game, Arizona is a much better team. She finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds against UW. “It wasn’t just one doing it, it was the whole team,” Njonkou said.
Arizona also got double-figure point production from Ify Ibekwe and Faihza Hill. Ibekwe had 14 points and Hill 11.
The Wildcats could use another good scoring performance from Hill, who has been starting in place of Reiko Thomas.
Thomas is still hampered by an ankle injury. She played 28 minutes against UW and scored five points from the free throw line. Thomas is averaging 11 points per game.
WSU has not beaten UA at home since 2006. UA leads the all-time series 23-19.