Arizona women’s basketball outmuscles TCU to advance to WNIT championship game

In the first four games of the WNIT, Arizona had a size advantage over an entirely mid-major slate of opponents. They dominated. The question was whether they could do the same against a Big 12 team whose calling card was strong interior play.

It turns out that they could win, just not dominate, as the Wildcats pulled out the victory over TCU by a score of 59-53.

Aari McDonald led all scorers with 19 points. She also led Arizona in rebounds with nine.

Dominique McBryde contributed 13 points and six rebounds, while Sam Thomas and Cate Reese scored nine points apiece.

For the first time all postseason, the Wildcats didn’t start the game with the ball in their hands. It looked like it might be a bad sign when TCU built a four-point lead. After all, Arizona hadn’t trailed for more than 30 seconds throughout the tournament.

The Horned Frogs couldn’t keep it up, though. Their shots stopped falling, and they struggled to hold onto the ball. By the end of the quarter, they had turned the ball over six times. Arizona had turned the giveaways into four points.

The Horned Frogs couldn’t make it up on the other end, where they shot only 23 percent. For the game, they shot just 27 percent to Arizona’s 40 percent.

For Arizona, the problem was denying the second chance points. TCU badly out-rebounded them, beginning with a 13-8 edge in the first 10 minutes. When the final horn blew, TCU had secured 50 rebounds to 33 for Arizona.

The WNIT Finals will be an all-Wildcat event as Arizona takes on the Northwestern Wildcats Saturday at noon.

This story will be updated.

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts https://ift.tt/2YKwvWw
via IFTTT