Arizona women's basketball hosts first home game of season

The Wildcats take on Cal State Northridge

The Arizona women’s basketball team will host Cal State Northridge in its first regular season home game at 1 p.m. on Saturday at McKale Center.

“They [Cal State Northridge] are going to come in well prepared,” head coach Niya Butts said. “They are a scrappy group and they are going to pressure us fast and throughout the whole game. They like to run the ball and are quick at transitioning. They’re not going to give us anything easy and in turn we won’t give them anything easy.”

The Matadors come off a 19 point win in their season opener against the University of Portland with a score of 71-50. Cal State Northridge’s leading scorer last season, Jasmine Erving, graduated, leaving sophomore guard Ashlee Guay to fill the leadership role this season. The young Matadors team is made up of four freshmen, four sophomores, two juniors and three seniors.

Guay scored a career-high 20 points against Portland after being the third highest scorer for the 2011-2012 season. Guay also led the team with 91 steals and 129 assists last season as a freshman.

The Wildcats come into Saturday’s game off two road wins, the latest a one-point victory against UNLV on Tuesday.

Junior guard and forward Kama Griffitts led Arizona in scoring with 25 points. The Wildcats brought down 24 offensive rebounds and limited the number of turnovers to 14, a season best thus far.

Arizona in turn forced 23 turnovers, converting them into 33 points.

“We took better care of the ball,” Butts said. “To come away with 24 offensive rebounds is a positive thing that we hope to carry into Saturday. Unfortunately, UNLV didn’t miss many shots, so we were limited on the defensive boards, but it was good to grind it out and get a win in a hostile environment.”