Arizona women’s basketball upsets Utah, get revenge for being ‘embarrassed’

When the Arizona and Utah met in Salt Lake City on Jan. 6, the loss embarrased the Wildcats according to junior Dominique McBryde. Those feelings were exorcised by their 66-55 victory over the Utes on Friday night.

Megan Huff came into Friday’s game averaging 20.2 points per game for Utah. The Wildcats shut her down, holding her to 6 points on 1-for-13 shooting. It was Huff’s lowest-scoring game all season and her first in single digits.

Meanwhile, Aari McDonald was as prolific as ever for Arizona. The star point guard went off for 26 points to lead all scorers. Her 10 rebounds gave her the double-double and tied her with Utah’s Dre’Una Edwards for the game high in that stat, too. McDonald added six assists, a steal and a block to her stat line.

McDonald has now scored 15 or more points in every contest this year.

Sam Thomas joined McDonald in double figures for the Wildcats. She finished the game with 14 points, two rebounds, an assist, two steals and four blocks.

Arizona’s defense keyed on Huff early. Led by McBryde, the Wildcats held her to two points in the first half and the Utes to 8-for-32 shooting.

After allowing the Utes to shoot 36.8 percent in the first quarter, the Wildcats turned the screws even tighter. The Wildcats gave up only five points in the second quarter. They allowed Utah to connect on only one field goal on a 7.7 percent shooting percentage.

The change from the teams’ first meeting was dramatic. Back in January, the Utes rushed out to a 25-point lead, shooting 76 percent in the first half. On Friday, the Wildcats held them to 29.7 percent shooting.

The Wildcats shot 46 percent for the game, including going 6 for 17 from beyond the arc.

Arizona went into the half with a 27-22 lead. Utah went on a seven-point streak to close it to one point midway through the third quarter, but were never able to take a lead over the final 20 minutes.

This story will be updated.

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