Citizen Staff Writer
ARIZONA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
KEN BRAZZLE
kbrazzle@tucsoncitizen.com
The Arizona women’s basketball team has had problems with scoring droughts.
Another one hit Saturday at a bad time in the Wildcats’ 60-53 loss to Arizona State at McKale Center.
Arizona went eight minutes and 15 seconds without scoring in the second half.
“In a normal course of a game, you are going to have some scoring spurts and scoring droughts,” said Arizona coach Niya Butts. “Our droughts seem to be a little bit longer than most droughts.”
Arizona (10-15, 3-11) led 38-31 before the drought. ASU outscored the Wildcats 13-0 during that time to take a 44-38 lead that it maintained down the stretch.
UA shot 36.1 percent for the game, including 30.3 in the second half.
“There was a moment in the game where we had a drought and I think that is what hurt us,” Arizona forward Ify Ibekwe said. “While we weren’t scoring, they were scoring.”
ASU (20-6, 12-2) was 17 of 18 from the foul line. The Sun Devils also were 5 of 10 from 3-point range. UA was 7 of 10 from the foul line and 2 of 12 on 3-pointers.
Arizona had four players score in double figures. Ashley Frazier and Courtney Clements each had 13 points, while Amina Njonkou contributed 11 points and Ibekwe added 10.
Ibekwe pulled down 14 rebounds for her 13th double-double this season. She leads the Pac-10 in that category.
“We’re obviously disappointed that we lost,” Ibekwe said. “Every game we grow and learn. I think that helps us as a team.”
Dymond Simon led ASU (20-6, 12-2) with 18 points.
UA hosts the two worst Pac-10 teams – Washington State and Washington – this week.
“We were solid in a lot of areas . . . things we can take and move on to next week,” Butts said. “I am pleased with that. But (the loss) was a tough one because we had them on the ropes.”
UP NEXT
Washington St. (10-16, 3-12)
at Arizona (10-15, 3-11)
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: McKale Center
Radio: 1400 AM
Arizona State 60, Arizona 53
ARIZONA ST. FG 3P FT Rb PF A TO St Mn Pts
Murphy 1-2 0-0 0-0 7 2 0 0 0 20 2
Dosty 3-5 0-0 0-0 4 5 0 2 1 20 6
Simon 5-16 1-1 7-8 3 2 3 4 0 30 18
Orsillo 3-6 1-2 4-4 3 3 2 2 0 24 11
January 2-11 1-3 4-4 3 0 5 2 1 24 9
Panaika 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0 12 0
Engelbrecht 1-2 1-1 2-2 1 0 3 1 2 29 5
Thompson 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0
Page 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Tobin 1-1 0-0 0-0 9 2 0 0 0 23 2
Lacey 3-8 1-3 0-0 3 1 0 0 0 15 7
Team 2
Totals 19-52 5-10 17-18 37 16 13 12 4 200 60
ARIZONA FG 3P FT Rb PF A TO St Mn Pts
Ibekwe 5-12 0-0 0-2 20 5 4 2 1 40 10
Hays 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Hill 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 1 23 2
Frazier 5-12 1-4 2-2 1 3 3 3 0 40 13
Clements 4-18 1-8 4-4 3 2 0 1 3 37 13
Thomas 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 2 0 2 0 20 4
Njonkou 5-13 0-0 1-2 9 2 0 2 3 32 11
Bofia 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Team 2
Totals 22-61 2-12 7-10 36 16 7 10 8 200 53
Arizona State 23 37–60
Arizona 28 25–53
FG%-ASU 36.5, Arizona 36.1. 3-PT%-ASU 50.0, Arizona 16.7. FT%-ASU 94.4, Arizona 70.0. Blocks-ASU 3 (Dosty 2, Tobin 1), Arizona 2 (Ibekwe 1, Clements 1). Officials-Scott Hermann, Chuck Gonzalez, Bob Scofield. Attendance-4,136.
PAC-10 WOMEN
School Conf. Overall
California 13-1 22-3
Stanford 13-1 22-4
Arizona State 12-2 20-6
USC 8-6 14-11
UCLA 7-7 16-9
Oregon State 6-9 15-10
Oregon 5-10 9-17
Arizona 3-11 10-15
Washington State 3-12 10-16
Washington 2-13 6-19
Weekend scores: Arizona State 60, Arizona 53; UCLA 65, Washington State 50; USC 77, Washington 53; California 62, Oregon State 40; Stanford 68, Oregon 49.
Thursday’s games: Washington State at Arizona, 7 p.m.; Washington at Arizona State, 6:30 p.m.
Friday’s games: Stanford at UCLA, 8 p.m.; California at USC, 8 p.m.
Saturday’s games: Washington at Arizona, 1 p.m.; Washington State at Arizona State, 4 p.m.; Oregon at Oregon State, 8 p.m.
Sunday’s games: California at UCLA, 1 p.m.; Stanford at USC, 1 p.m.