Arizona women's basketball drops fourth game in a row

By JAMES KELLEY Published March 4, 2013 at 12:51am Updated March 4, 2013 at 12:51am

Arizona women’s basketball is limping into the post season after losing its fourth game in a row and 12 of its last 13 Sunday afternoon at home.

The Wildcats (12-17, 4-14 Pac-12) lost 68-57 to No. 16 UCLA (23-6, 14-4) in their final regular season game.

Arizona opened the game on 9-2 run, but by 8:31 left in the first half, the Bruins had taken 21-12 lead. The UA cut the deficit to five but UCLA led 35-27 at the half.

Head coach Niya Butts said it was a game of runs.

“We started out really hot from the gate, so that was our run,” Butts said. “We settled down a little bit and then they made a run. We just didn’t answer that.”

During the second half, the Bruins extended their lead to as much as 15 with 12:26 left. The UA cut it to 54-47 with 5:41 left and was within nine points with about three minutes to go, but UCLA pulled away late.

The UA, the 11th seed, opens the Pac-12 tournament Thursday night with sixth seeded Utah.

Senior guard Davellyn Whyte led the way on senior day with 16 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Though she was 5-for-19 from the field, she made all six of her free throws and had all of the UA’s assists.

“We missed a lot of lay ups, a lot of open shots and she probably could have had 16 or 17 assists had we converted,” Butts said.

No other Wildcat was in double figures in scoring, but all Arizona players that saw action scored at least five points.

“If your offense isn’t working, you always can have defense every night, so I just focus on my defense and look for my teammates and things opened up a little bit,” Whyte said.

Junior forward Alli Gloyd had nine points on 3-for-5 shooting, grabbed eight rebounds and had two steals and a block. Freshman guard Keyahndra Cannon also had nine points, with four rebounds and a steal.

“I just focused on finishing as much as I could,” Gloyd said. “[Whyte] makes plays a lot, driving to the basket and defense kind of sucks to her and she dishes and I just try to make sure to finish.”

As a team, Arizona was held to 30 percent shooting though, and 11.1 percent beyond the arc. UCLA’s smothering defense forced a number of shot clock violations or rushed shots.

The Bruins shot 46.2 percent from the field and 18.8 percent on three pointers.

UCLA had 17 turnovers, compared to just 14 for the Wildcats.

“They were too much in the paint for us today, it was 40-24 paint points and that’s going to be tough to combat every time,” Butts said.

The Bruins swept the regular season season series, winning 73-57 in Los Angeles in January.

“We wanted the seniors to go out with a win but that didn’t happen and we just got to continue to push forward,” Butts said.

On Friday, Arizona lost to USC, 74-62 and was out rebounded by the Trojans 52-32.

USC had a 17-1 run in the first half and though UA outscored USC 36-35 in the second half, it wasn’t enough.

“We have found a way to lose a game in every way we possibly can and that’s very frustrating,” Butts said. “It’s one of those things where we make runs, but can’t finish the game.”