Victory over Colorado gives Arizona women’s basketball first Pac-12 sweep since 2011

The Arizona Wildcats went into their match-up with the Colorado Buffaloes looking for their first sweep of the Pac-12 season. In fact, they hadn’t won the second game of a conference weekend all season, and they hadn’t swept a weekend since the 2010-11 season.

If there was a team they could have expected to reverse that trend against, it was Colorado. The Buffs had gone winless in Pac-12 play until they posted a five-point victory over USC on Feb. 10. Their star point guard, Kennedy Leonard, was playing limited minutes in her first game back from an injury that had kept her out for the past six weeks. With Leonard limited, the Buffs were starting three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior.

The Wildcats took advantage, trailing for only eight seconds all game in a 63-51 victory.

Arizona got out to a quick start, pushing the lead to as many as 13 points in the first quarter. They pulled away from Colorado without Aari McDonald’s usual scoring prowess. She scored 13 points for the game—her first game under 15 points this season.

In the first quarter, McDonald took only two shots and missed them both. When the first 10 minutes were over, she had four points, all off free throws. She still ended the game just short of a triple double. In addition to her 13 points, she had eight rebounds, nine assists, four steals and two blocks.

Cate Reese took on the role of lead scorer, getting 17 points on 8-for-17 shooting. She also pulled down nine rebounds to lead the game in both stats.

The Wildcats got balanced scoring with Dominique McBryde also scoring in double figures. McBryde matched McDonald with 13 points and added two rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block on the day.

Arizona was able to play all nine of their available players, with all but two putting points on the board.

Unity Game

The Wildcats welcomed former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords for their Unity game. They joined Colorado at half court to link arms for the playing of the national anthem before the game, and honored Giffords at halftime as a Champion of Change.

It was a pleasure to honor @GabbyGiffords as the @RISEtoWIN Champion of Change! pic.twitter.com/nhttElDy5C

— Arizona Women's Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) February 17, 2019

This story will be updated.

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