Arizona’s Cate Reese makes Katrina McClain Award watch list

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More preseason accolades for Arizona women’s basketball are announced

It was another day and another watch list for Arizona women’s basketball as sophomore Cate Reese was named to the preseason list for the Katrina McClain Award. The award is given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association to the nation’s best power forward.

Reese returns for her second season after playing an integral part of the Wildcats as they put together a turn-around year and won the postseason WNIT title. In her first season, she started all 37 of Arizona’s games. No freshman had started as many games in the history of the program.

After becoming the first McDonald’s All-American to play for the Arizona women’s team, Reese led all Pac-12 freshmen in scoring and rebounding on her way to a place on the Pac-12 All-Freshman team. Her seven double-doubles were also tops among league freshmen. Her final double-double of the year came in the opening game of the WNIT when she went for 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Over the course of the season, she was second on the team with 11.8 points per game on 49.3 percent shooting. Reese was at her best when the team had the most on the line, scoring 14.2 ppg during their six-game postseason run.

On the boards, Reese led the Wildcats with 6.8 rebounds per game. On the defensive end of the court, she was second on the team in total blocks with 30 and third in blocks per game with 0.8.

Reese joins fellow Pac-12 players Ruthy Hebard (Oregon) and Francesca Belibi (Stanford) on the list of 20 power forwards. Players can play themselves onto or off of the list over the course of the season.

The award will be presented in Los Angeles, California on April 10, 2020 at The College Basketball Awards. Winners of the other four positional awards will be announced at the same event. Arizona’s Aari McDonald is on the watch list for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award for the nation’s best shooting guard.

Last season’s Katrina McClain Award was won by Connecticut’s Napheesa Collier.

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