Arizona women’s basketball dominated by UCLA in final regular season Pac-12 game

The final regular season Pac-12 women’s basketball game in McKale Center was something to write home for the visiting UCLA Bruins.

“I’m going to forget about that one really fast,” Arizona Wildcats head coach Adia Barnes said. “That was a tough game. We did not play well. All credit to UCLA. They’re really good. I wouldn’t be surprised it they’re not in the Final Four. Coach (Cori) Close has done an incredible job. She has a really deep, good team that has—I don’t think they have a lot of weaknesses.”

Arizona played lights-out before falling to USC in double overtime on Thursday night. On Saturday, they were never in it against UCLA, losing 61-41. It was the fifth straight game that the Bruins held their opponents to 55 points or less, including games against Colorado and Utah.

“If I look at the whole season, I’d say we really got killed by Stanford here, played a bad game at Oregon, and then this,” Barnes said. “These are the three worst losses of the year as far as performance.”

The Bruins controlled things on both ends of the floor from the first whistle. They kept Arizona from scoring until the 4:52 mark in the first quarter. Fifth-year senior Helena Pueyo, playing in her last regular season home game, hit the two-pointer that cut UCLA’s lead to 13-2.

It looked like Arizona had settled down. The Wildcats cut the UCLA lead to six with 1:52 to go in the opening period. That just woke up the Bruins, who pushed it back to double digits with two straight buckets.

“When they punched us we could not bounce back,” Barnes said. “They’re just really good and we played really bad. I thought we were very tight. I don’t know why we were so tight. It looked like we had the pressure to win and we had no pressure, but we played with a lot of tension.”

Barnes said she felt that fifth-year senior Esmery Martinez was especially tight. Martinez was obviously emotional, even after the game.

“I don’t think it was a physical,” Barnes said. “I think it was a mental stress and tightness and emotions…I kind of knew Esmery would probably play like this because the last week, she’s been down. So it was just…a struggle.”

Early in the season, UCLA was a dominant team. The Bruins opened the season with 14 straight wins against a strong schedule. Then things got difficult in the early part of conference play.

The Bruins had some tough opponents. Lauren Betts was away from the team for a while. Izzy Anstey retired from basketball. Anglea Dugalic and Lina Sonstag went to play with their national teams in Olympic qualifying. And the Bruins looked out of sorts.

They lost four games between Jan. 14 and Feb. 4.

Betts returned on Feb. 9 for the first matchup between Arizona and UCLA. The Bruins won by eight in Pauley Pavilion. They’ve only lost to No. 11 Oregon State since, going on a 7-1 run, and are once again looking like the class of the Pac-12 and a possible Final Four team.

It was a rough way for Arizona to end the regular season and send three seniors out. The team honored Pueyo, Martinez, and Isis Beh before the game.

With just seconds to go and their team destined to lose, most of the 7,845 fans were still in attendance. They stood and chanted, “U-of-A! U-of-A!” They were still there after the final buzzer when Barnes addressed them.

“You guys never give up on us,” Barnes said to the crowd. “We were getting our ass kicked tonight. You guys didn’t walk out…You always stay till the end and supported us through losses.”

The seniors expressed similar feelings about their teammates, coaches, and community after the game.

“For me, I couldn’t have picked a better place to finish my career,” Beh said. “I really love the fans here, my coaches, and my teammates.”

For Martinez, it was almost too much to talk about. She sat staring at the ground, barely able to speak before the tears started.

“I’m really sad now,” Martinez said. “Arizona really took me and made me feel okay, I was home. I’m not from here. They made me feel like I was welcome here. And the players are family—like Helena, she’s my sister.”

Pueyo led the Wildcats with 16 points. She added 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 6 steals. After playing 50 minutes against USC, Barnes was able to “limit” her to 36 on Saturday. She wasn’t thinking about any of that after the game.

In a very rare occurrence, freshman Breya Cunningham was not saddled with foul trouble. The post player was on the floor for a few seconds shy of 30 minutes. She has only hit the 30-minute mark once this season, going 33 minutes against Oregon State in a double-overtime game on Jan. 12.

Pueyo wasn’t thinking about anyone’s stats after the game. Instead, it was her five-year journey and the fans standing to cheer her as she checked out for the last time.

“For me, it means everything,” Pueyo said. “Five years here. It’s been my house for five years, my family. I love Adia. I love Salvo (Coppa). They came all the way to Spain to try to get me here. It’s a really special place. I love it. I know it’s sad because it wasn’t our best basketball, but it was just my emotions…I love this program. I love the fans and this has been a pleasure for me.”

Arizona next plays in Las Vegas in its final Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Wildcats are the No. 7 seed and will face No. 10 seed Washington at 7 p.m. MST on Wednesday, Mar. 6. The team will hold a meet and greet for the fans on Tuesday, Mar. 5 in Vegas.