Arizona women’s basketball controls Kansas with balanced attack

The Arizona Wildcats dominated every aspect of the game as they defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 74-59 in Phog Allen Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats led wire-to-wire, ending with superior numbers in field goal percentage, 3-point shooting, turnovers, points off turnovers, assists, bench scoring, and total rebounds as five players scored in double figures.

Arizona head coach Adia Barnes moved back to her original starting lineup of Jada Williams, Skylar Jones, Paulina Paris, Isis Beh, and Breya Cunningham for the first time since facing Utah in their second Big 12 contest. She also got big contributions off the bench from Lauryn Swann and Montaya Dew.

Williams had a strong showing as she played less than an hour from her hometown of Kansas City, Mo. The sophomore point guard scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting while dishing out five assists and only turning the ball over once in 35 minutes of play. She added four rebounds and a block.

Beh had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. She added three steals and three assists.

Paris matched Williams’ 5-for-12 shooting to gather 11 points. She also had one rebound and one assist.

Swann and Dew were difference-makers off the bench, which outscored the KU bench 32-2. The pair of first-year players accounted for 28 of the 32 points for the Wildcats.

Swann returned to a reserve role last Thursday against Kansas State after starting three games. It seemed to suit her. She had a team-high 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including going 3 for 5 from the 3-point line. She grabbed four boards and one steal in 27 minutes.

Dew showed the kind of offensive aggressiveness she isn’t known for, hitting from outside and in the paint. She scored a career-high 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting. She hit 2 of 3 shots from beyond the arc and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line. She filled the stat sheet with five rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

The 3-point shooting was on for most of the lineup. The Wildcats went 6-for-14 from outside in the first half to open up a 37-23 lead after 20 minutes. They ended the game 9 for 22 from 3-point range with even Beh connecting on an outside shot. It kept the distance between themselves and a Jayhawks team that was just 2 for 14 from outside.

On Thursday against K-State, Arizona had stretches of moving the ball well but also reverted to old habits of overdribbling and holding onto the ball. After that, Barnes pointed to improvements and said they wanted to see a little more of those gains each game. The Wildcats avoided that against the Jayhawks, leading to 18 assists on 27 made buckets. KU had just six assists.

In their game in Manhattan, the Wildcats started cold as ice. They were down 8-0 before hitting their first bucket with 4:12 left in the opening quarter. They turned that on its head in Lawrence.

UA opened on an 8-2 run in the first four minutes of the first period. It had its first double-digit lead at 19-9 when Dew hit her first 3-point shot at the 1:25 mark.

The Wildcats’ biggest lead of the half came when Paris hit a layup with 26 seconds left in the second quarter to go ahead by 16. They went into the locker room up by 14.

The third quarter started a bit shaky with two straight turnovers, but Arizona settled down. KU got the lead down to 10 a couple of times in the period but could never cut it to single digits. Jayhawks star S’Mya Nichols hit a 3 at the buzzer but the Wildcats still led by 12 going to the final 10 minutes.

The Jayhawks cut the lead to 10 twice to open the fourth quarter, but Williams responded each time with a bucket on the other end. The Arizona lead never dropped below 12 points again. The Wildcats’ largest lead of 17 came on a Paris jumper with 18 seconds to go.

Arizona improved to 12-8 overall and 3-4 in the Big 12. Kansas moved to 12-6 on the year and 2-5 in conference play.

The Wildcats and Colorado are tied with the ninth-best records in the league, half a game behind Arizona’s next opponent. Arizona was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12.

The Cincinnati Bearcats (11-5, 3-3 Big 12) come to McKale Center on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

This story will be updated.