Arizona
Isis Beh, Helena Pueyo lift Arizona women’s basketball to triple-OT win over Washington
The last time Arizona women’s basketball played three overtimes was the 2018-19 season. Aari McDonald was in her first year as a Wildcat. The team won the WNIT, but it couldn’t defeat UCLA that day.
Things were different on Sunday against Washington. Helena Pueyo played all 55 minutes—the most by a Pac-12 player in a single game since at least 1999-2000—and the Wildcats survived for a 90-82 victory over the Huskies.
“These last two games we came out playing some of our best basketball in the first like five, seven minutes,” said Arizona head coach Adia Barnes. “And then the second quarter happens. Now, it’s not the third quarter, it’s the second quarter if you notice. But just found ways to get stops and show up big and make plays. So, I’m just proud of us right now. I’m proud of our team.”
It was a tough ask for UW, too. The Huskies lost to ASU on Friday in double overtime.
Pueyo tied her career high with 22 points, but it was Isis Beh who did most of the offensive damage. The senior post exploded past her previous Division I career high of 13 points set last year at West Virginia. It was her second straight game in double figures after finishing with 11 against Washington State.
Beh had already passed that 13-point threshold long before the first extra period. She ended with 29 points on 10-for-11 shooting, including going 2 for 2 from the 3-point line and 7 for 10 from the free-throw line. Her field goal percentage of 90.9 percent tied the second-best mark in Arizona program history.
Beh also had five rebounds—four of those on the offensive end—and three assists.
“I feel like after Friday’s game, I just have more confidence,” Beh said. “And I’ve been talking to the coaches, and they’ve been giving me more confidence. All season, my teammates have built the confidence, but now like I’m starting to have confidence within myself.”
A big reason for Beh’s contributions was the ability to avoid fouls and stay on the floor, something that has been a challenge in her first season in the Pac-12.
“Someone’s driving past me, I’ll just let them have it and I trust my teammates will be a help instead of trying to get back in front myself,” Beh said. “So I feel like that’s what helped me. And I haven’t been trying to block shots because I’m not a leaper. So I’ve just stopped trying to block shots.”
Pueyo was close to a double-double, grabbing eight rebounds to go with her 22 points. She added four assists, two steals, and two blocks. She had just one turnover in her 55-minute effort.
The aggressiveness of the two veterans isn’t always part of their games. The lifting partners have been trying to help each other get over that.
“We always tell each other like, ‘You need to shoot,’” Beh said. “We tell each other all the time, like, ‘Stop passing the ball,’ because both of us try to pass too much. So we were trying to score the ball.”
The freshman trio of Jada Williams (11 points), Skylar Jones (10 points), and Breya Cunningham (10 points) also had double-digit efforts on the offensive end. Williams led the team with five assists and added four rebounds and two steals. Jones ended with three rebounds and four assists. Cunningham had seven rebounds, tying Esmery Martinez for second on the team.
Martinez sat out of Friday’s game against Washington State, and Barnes said that she probably should not have played against Washington. While she went 1 for 8 from the field and had five turnovers, Martinez grabbed three of her seven rebounds on the offensive end of the floor, had four assists, and stole the ball twice.
The Wildcats came out hot. They shot 47.1 percent from the floor and went 3 for 5 from the 3-point line in the opening quarter. They scored the first 14 points of the game, keeping UW off the board until the 3:32 mark.
The Huskies struggled even when they were open. They hit just 3 of 13 shots in the first 10 ten minutes. Even when Arizona didn’t close out on 3-point shooters, UW could not hit the shots, going 0 for 4 from outside.
The result was a 21-7 lead for Arizona after the first period. It didn’t last long, though.
UW found its way in the second quarter. Shots started falling to the turn of 10 for 12 in the period. Arizona was still hitting shots—connecting on 77.8 percent of its second-quarter shots—but wasn’t getting as many shots off as its opponent.
The Huskies outscored the Wildcats 24-17 in the second quarter to make it a 38-31 game going into the locker room.
“I feel like we started really aggressive and we kind of hit a point in the game [when] all of us was tired at the same time,” Beh said. “I felt like after halftime we talked about it and we were just, no matter how tired we are, we need to still do what we need to do.”
Washington kept that momentum going in the second half, while Arizona started to fall off a bit. The Huskies shot over 50 percent in both quarters after halftime. The Wildcats shot 30 percent or lower both quarters.
UW took its first lead of the game with just over a minute left in the third quarter. They held it for most of the remaining time in regulation. Arizona’s last lead in regulation came with 5:10 left on the clock.
The Wildcats kept the Huskies within reach. With 1:05 left in regulation and UW leading by two, Williams stepped to the free throw line and calmly sank two to tie the game at 60.
In Arizona’s loss to UW in Seattle, the game was tied with seconds on the clock. The Wildcats had three fouls to give, but they didn’t give them. Instead, they allowed the Huskies to go the length of the court and score the winning basket.
Barnes didn’t bring up that last defensive possession, but she did impress on her team that they had three fouls to give and they needed to give them.
“I didn’t bring it up because I don’t want them to think about that,” Barnes said. “I brought up this is an opportunity. This is the situation. I repeated myself like eight times. But this is a situation. This is how many fouls we have to give.”
This time, they had 14 seconds on the clock. They gave those three fouls, but they still almost had their hearts broken.
Lauren Schwartz, who scored the winning bucket at Hec Ed, dribbled towards the basket. She let the ball go. It went in, but was it in time?
The officials looked at the monitor and waved it off. It was going to overtime tied at 60.
“I felt it counted the first time, but then I was like, ‘I don’t know. It was hard to say,’” Pueyo said. “I think it was a tough call, but when they said no I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’”
UW led by as many as five in the first extra period, but Arizona kept reeling it back in. With seven seconds to go, Pueyo hit a 3-point shot to tie it at 69. The teams were on to a second overtime.
“That was crazy,” Pueyo said. “I mean, I don’t think it was even for me. I think we were looking for a two, but I got the ball back and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m just gonna shoot it.’”
Arizona took its first lead since halfway through the fourth quarter to start the scoring in the second OT. Neither team led by more than two points, with Arizona taking the final two-point lead on a bucket from Pueyo with 16 seconds to go. Schwartz countered on the other end with two made free throws to send it to the third extra period.
The final five minutes of overtime started with Schwartz putting the Huskies up by three, but Arizona controlled the period after that.
Beh responded with a layup. That was followed by her third 3-pointer of the season and second of the game, giving Arizona a lead that it never relinquished.
“This was a must-win game for us,” Barnes said.
Arizona
NAU launches first-of-its-kind engineering degree to fast-track Arizona’s future workforce – The NAU Review
As Arizona’s semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries continue to grow at a rapid pace, Northern Arizona University’s Steve Sanghi College of Engineering is launching a new degree program designed to help meet the state’s workforce needs.
Beginning this fall, NAU will offer a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology, a flexible, workforce-focused degree pathway that prepares students for careers in microelectronics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing in as little as three years. The 90-credit bachelor’s degree creates a more accessible pathway into engineering careers through a hands-on, applied curriculum and a streamlined transfer model with Arizona community colleges.
The program follows a 45-45 completion structure, allowing students to complete 45 credits at a community college and 45 credits through NAU. Courses will be delivered through synchronous remote instruction at NAU’s North Valley campus in Phoenix and at Pima Community College in Tucson, increasing access for statewide students.
Addressing Arizona’s growing semiconductor workforce
Designed with workforce readiness in mind, the program emphasizes practical engineering application, systems implementation, testing, quality control, systems analysis, manufacturing, fabrication, process control and project management. Students will gain technical and problem-solving skills aligned with the needs of Arizona’s rapidly evolving manufacturing economy.
“This new bachelor’s degree empowers students to identify real-world engineering challenges and develop practical solutions,” said James Palmer, associate dean for academic affairs at the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering. “We are creating a more accessible pathway into engineering careers while preparing graduates to support Arizona’s growing microelectronics and semiconductor industry.”
Arizona has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing semiconductor hubs, with more than $200 billion in semiconductor-related investments announced in the Greater Phoenix region since 2020, including expansions from Intel, TSMC and Amkor Technology. TSMC alone has committed up to $165 billion toward Arizona operations, including multiple fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities expected to create thousands of technical and manufacturing jobs.
Industry demand continues to grow for professionals with applied engineering and advanced manufacturing skills in areas such as process engineering, manufacturing systems, equipment operations and yield enhancement. NAU’s new degree program was developed to help students quickly enter these high-demand career fields while supporting Arizona’s long-term economic growth and domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity.
The program also aligns with NAU’s strategic commitment to expanding access to affordable, student-centered educational opportunities that prepare graduates for meaningful careers and long-term success.
Students interested in learning more about the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology program should contact SCE@nau.edu.
PHOENIX (AP) — The two Republican congressmen running for Arizona governor pitched themselves at a debate Wednesday as the only candidate with broad enough voter appeal to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs amid the state’s affordability struggles.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who is the GOP primary’s frontrunner and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, portrayed himself as being able to cross party lines and having the right experience to be the state’s chief executive.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind, if you look at the polling data that you’re going to find, I am the most competitive with Katie Hobbs of anybody on this stage in any Republican in the state,” Biggs said.
U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who has survived three tough Democratic challenges in recent years, believes his focus on government finances and his drive to bring new business to the state make him the singular Republican candidate.
“These are wonderful people, but they’ve never actually been in the great battle,” Schweikert said of Biggs and two other Republican opponents.
Businessman Scott Neely, who ran an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2022, said after the debate that if Biggs wins the primary, Republicans will lose the election.
The winner of the July 21 primary will face Hobbs, who’s running unopposed in the primary.
Biggs has served five terms in the U.S. House, representing a heavily GOP district in the eastern Phoenix suburbs and serving at one time as chairman of the ultra-right U.S. House Freedom Caucus.
Before that, Biggs served in the Arizona Legislature from 2003 through 2016, including four years as president of the state Senate. He battled with then-Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on a Medicaid expansion in 2013 and pushed school choice measures and bills targeting abortion providers.
Biggs is one of Trump’s top defenders in Congress and supported Trump’s false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
Schweikert, a budget hawk known for railing against government debt, has represented an affluent district that includes parts of northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale for eight terms. He served in the Arizona House in the 1990s and as Maricopa County’s treasurer in the 2000s.
Schweikert has focused his congressional career on sounding the alarm about the federal budget deficit and the ballooning U.S. debt, often in late-night speeches to a nearly empty House chamber and bleary-eyed C-SPAN viewers. Schweikert has praised Trump’s 2017 tax cuts but has called for more spending cuts to reduce federal borrowing.
His reputation was tarnished by ethics scandals. In 2022, he received a $125,000 fine by the Federal Election Commission for misappropriating campaign funds. Two years prior, he agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and accept 11 campaign finance violations after an investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Ethics. In his last three general campaigns for Congress, Schweikert staved off challenges from Democrats. Biggs voiced support for Arizona’s recent passage of a three-year moratorium on tax incentives for new data centers – a move Hobbs also has touted. “They shouldn’t be given a break,” Biggs said, noting the large amounts of power and water that data centers use.
Schweikert bemoaned Arizona’s unfavorable affordability rankings as “pretty miserable,” but said consumer prices don’t come down magically. He vowed to aggressively recruit businesses to Arizona and push for wage growth.
Both congressmen were asked about the expired healthcare subsidies for those getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
“We’re going to have to deal with the reality of subsidization of everything in the economy is not going to work,” Schweikert said.
Biggs said he introduced legislation in Congress to bring down healthcare costs and also voiced support for Trump’s proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can handle insurance and health costs as they see fit.
-
Indiana1 minute agoBraun asks regulators to reconsider $71 million AES rate increase
-
Kansas6 minutes agoMixed results for Kansas City World Cup start as some businesses struggle
-
Iowa9 minutes agoIowa High School Baseball Stats: Leaders On The Diamond This Summer
-
Kentucky16 minutes agoKentucky MBB players were dishing out smiles at the Kentucky Children’s Hospital this week
-
Louisiana23 minutes agoGov. Landry declares state of emergency after flooding, severe weather across Louisiana
-
Maine26 minutes agoImportant things to know about the Maine boys lacrosse state finals
-
Maryland32 minutes agoUniversity of Maryland football player arrested for harassment
-
Michigan39 minutes agoMichigan Department of Corrections to launch L.E.A.D. Academy program this fall
