Aari McDonald sinks game-winning layup to lift No. 13 Arizona past No. 4 Stanford

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Aari McDonald banked in a layup with nine seconds left in overtime and No. 13 Arizona beat No. 4 Stanford 73-72 on Friday for its first-ever win over a top-5 team.

Battling a nagging ankle injury, McDonald finished with 20 points, 13 in the fourth quarter and overtime.

AARI MCDONALD FOR THE WIN

She's COLD pic.twitter.com/L1GZUwskDP

— Arizona Women's Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) February 29, 2020

Sam Thomas had 17 points, 15 in the fourth and overtime, and made a 3 to put Arizona up 71-64. The Cardinal roared back with an 8-0 run in 45 seconds to recapture a lead before McDonald drove for the game-winning bucket.

Dominique McBryde had 13 points, including 11 in a big third quarter when she buried three 3s.

Their senior missed a month’s worth of games in December, but the team has been money when she plays, going 17-2 overall and 10-0 at home. She showed why on Friday night as Arizona captured their first victory over a Top 5 team in program history.

The Wildcats (23-5, 12-5) went cold late in the second quarter. Stanford held them without a point for over six minutes to end the first half and begin the second. Then, McBryde came alive. Her team scored 14 points in the third quarter. Eleven of them were hers.

Neither team came out looking terribly sharp on offense from the beginning. It was almost three minutes into the game before McDonald took a Thomas steal and put points on the board.

The entry of Helena Pueyo lit some fire under the Wildcats. The freshman picked off a pass from Anna Wilson and swished a 3 on the other end to give Arizona the one-point lead. Two minutes later, another shot from distance. The lead was six.

The home team looked comfortable as they closed out the opening quarter with an eight-point lead, but scoring became more difficult as the game wore on. After pushing their lead to nine early in the second quarter, the Wildcats saw their advantage slowly dwindle.

Arizona ended the half on a 2:28 scoring drought, allowing Stanford to cut the lead to two at the half. The Wildcats didn’t come out of the locker room any hotter from the floor.

The Cardinal opened the second half on an 8-0 run, building their own six-point lead before McBryde got hot. The senior, playing in her final two regular season home games, hit a 3 and followed with a layup. Another 3-pointer. Then, a third 3-pointer. In three minutes, she had scored 11 points.

Pueyo was the only other Wildcat to score in the quarter, adding a 3 of her own. Arizona had climbed within five with 10 minutes to play.

Then, it was time for Thomas The junior opened the final quarter with 10 straight points. The game was tied. The 7,838 fans in McKale Center rose together and roared.

This story will be updated.

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