Arizona women’s basketball overcomes slow start to defeat Cal State LA in exhibition

Exhibitions are to try things and work them out. Arizona women’s basketball took advantage of that in an 82-53 win against Cal State L.A. in its final exhibition Tuesday evening.

“We’re getting better,” said Arizona head coach Adia Barnes. “We’re not where we need to be at all, but much improved from last game, I think. But you know, we’re kind of starting off slow, so I don’t know if we’re kind of waiting around. I don’t know why, but we are. We are improving, and practice has been really tough. So I knew today they weren’t coming out for us, which is fine, because we got to work through. We got to get in a little better shape. Overall, I thought we did some good things. Good film.”

Barnes started with the experimentation from the very start. After sending out a starting lineup of Jada Williams, Skylar Jones, Paulina Paris, Breya Cunningham, and Isis Beh in the first exhibition, she made a change for the second. Freshman Mailien Rolf took the floor for the opening whistle while Jones remained on the bench.

“I thought Mailien has given us consistent energy, consistently a great teammate,” Barnes said. “She’s coachable. She plays hard. I know what to expect from her day in and day out, and I really value that. So that’s why. She never has a bad attitude. She never has poor body language, and that’s the standard. So, if you’re gonna not have those things, you’re not gonna start here. I don’t care how good you are….She was 0-for-2, but she still gave really good minutes, because there’s so many other things I value, and she does so many little things, and she’s one of the few that really pressures the ball right now.”

Rolf has experience focusing on things like rebounding and defense while playing with high-scoring teammates in Germany’s international program. Barnes agreed that her international experience is showing through in college.

“Some players they predicate everything on offense and scoring,” Barnes said. “And I think she just plays and isn’t afraid to do the dirty work and does whatever you ask. So that’s something I really value. And she dives on the floor. She can…play the 1,2, 3. She doesn’t care, and I like that. So she’s gonna get better. She has a nice shot too, and she’s smart and she gets it, but the effort, the energy, and how she is and who she is what I really value.”

It may have been a message to Jones after last week when she showed some of the frustration that sidetracked her early in her freshman season. If so, she took it in stride and made up for lost time when she got on the floor.

The sophomore led the Wildcats with six points in the first quarter despite not starting. She ended the night with a team-high 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting. She also had two assists and two steals.

“It was good to get a vibe with the game, coming off the bench, and see what I can do to help my team,” Jones said. “I’m just trying to do whatever I can help my teammates win. So that was my role, just figuring out what that was…Was it scoring, defense, getting stops… encouraging all the freshmen in the trenches…because I know how it feels to feel lost out there, because it was me a few months ago…So that’s my role, too.”

Williams’ did not shoot as well in the early going as she did in the first exhibition, but she made her presence known in other ways until her scoring fell into place. She scored 15 points again, although she only went 1-for-4 from 3-point distance. This time, she did it on drives to the basket and free throws, going 5-for-8 from inside the arc and 2-for-2 from the line.

More importantly, Williams played tough defense and kept her head up on the fastbreak, finding teammates running the floor for easy buckets. She also found her teammates inside on a regular basis. The results were team highs in assists (5) and steals (7).

“She is a way better floor leader, way better at taking care of the basketball, way better, way better defensively, her quickness, her strength, all that she showed,” Barnes said. “So all the work she put on her body is showing with her athleticism. Her feet are quicker. And the other thing is, she’s really focused on shooting the ball better, and she shoots a lot better, so you can’t go under. Like you saw last game, people went under an on-ball and she hit threes.”

Cunningham scored 14 points, many coming on the end of Williams’ assists. The sophomore center also had six rebounds and one assist.

Williams felt the connections between herself, Cunningham, Jones, and Beh were about more than basketball.

“We work a lot on transition,” Williams said. “We’re a transition team, so being comfortable in chaos and transition is something that we work on a lot. Knowing where to look and who has the hot hand is a big one. But also we’re best friends, us four. We hang out all the time. These are really my sisters, so I think that camaraderie on the court shows and we trust each other. We’re comfortable with each other. We can hold each other accountable. That’s huge for us.”

Paris had her second straight strong outing since becoming a Wildcat. The junior ended with nine points, three rebounds, four assists, and one steal. On defense, she wasn’t afraid to get on the floor and fight for loose balls.

“For her, it is really getting comfortable in the system,” Williams said. “She was injured, so she didn’t play games in a couple months. So her just getting to feel the game again and getting comfortable in our system, she got way better…We’re going to need her to put up numbers in all the categories.”

Beh was the glue player, doing a little bit of everything. Like Paris, she was diving for loose balls. Like Williams, she was getting her hands in the passing lanes with six steals. Like both of her smaller teammates, she was setting up the offense with three assists. She also had two rebounds and a block.

“Most bigs are afraid to get on the floor,” Barnes said.

Beh and Williams also showed the leadership that Barnes said has improved since their first year in the program.

“I named (Beh) and Jada captains the other day,” the coach said. “So it’s a big responsibility, and it’s hard. It’s supposed to be hard, but I think (Beh) deserves that. I think she looks like a fifth year. She acts like a fifth year, and she’s not afraid to do that. Those little things matter…playing hard and diving on the floor, bringing energy and being a good teammate, being great on defense.”

All of Arizona’s available players got into the game. Forward Montaya Dew was not dressed for the game, joining grad transfer Ajae Yoakum on the bench. Barnes said Dew is on antibiotics for strep throat, so she was allowed to be on the bench but couldn’t play.

The Wildcats had another slow start on the defensive end. They allowed the Golden Eagles to shoot 52.2 percent over the first half.

Arizona started on a 6-0 run before allowing CSULA to go on an 11-0 run to take the five-point lead. The Wildcats started putting things together offensively when Jones entered the game. Sahnya Jah broke the team’s five-minute scoring drought, then Jones scored six straight for UA.

Barnes was pleased with some of the improvements Jah made since the first game but believes they were just the first steps.

“I am happy for Jah today, too, because she played a lot harder like she had a sense of urgency,” Barnes said. “I know she got mad when we all yelled at her on the fastbreak and we had the last possession. But teaching them it’s the last possession, we don’t want to take that shot and give them another chance to shoot. It’s not about now. It’s about when games are closer. So I knew she’s gonna take that layup from, like, way in the back, where you see in her eyes. It’s like her eyes are lighting up. But she’s playing harder. She’s getting in better shape. Now they’re working into five, six minutes, seven minutes. Before, after two minutes, they were kind of struggling. But that stuff’s gonna come. She’s gonna continue to get better.”

The Wildcats kept CSULA from taking as many shots in the second quarter, but the Golden Eagles still hit 57.1 percent of the shots they took. If not for UA hitting 68.8 percent on the other end, the game would have been much tighter. As it was, the Wildcats went into the locker room leading 47-33.

Like their first exhibition, the ‘Cats had more success keeping the opponent from scoring in the third quarter. The Golden Eagles scored just eight points on 25 percent shooting in the third frame.

As with any coach during exhibitions, Barnes thinks there are plenty of things to fix—from conditioning to playing better as a group to boxing out.

“We did a really poor job of today, like two feet in the paint on the weak side,” Barnes said. “We kind of have some rules for defense, and we were not doing that. We gave up some layups. So they were shooting…a little over 50 percent the first half. So those are things we can’t have happen, especially we’re asking someone to kind of pressure the ball, they’re going to get beat, so we…don’t want to give up layups in our defense. So, definitely have to improve there. But I think second half…when you’re more tired, we’re doing better. So that just shows me that we’re not really focused on the details, and some of us don’t have an understanding.”

Arizona has just under a week to get some of those things right before UT Arlington comes to town on Monday, Nov. 4 for the first game that counts.

Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics