W-hoops drops third straight

Washington hands Arizona its worst lost of the season

By ZACK ROSENBLATT Published January 27, 2012 at 2:54am Updated January 27, 2012 at 2:54am

After the women’s basketball team lost to Colorado by two points on Sunday, senior guard Reiko Thomas described what the Wildcats felt about their play in one word.

“Disappointment,” she said.

That was after a two-point loss. On Thursday, however, Arizona was on the wrong end of a 29-point rout at the hands of Washington, 77-48. The Wildcats have now dropped three games in a row and have a record of 13-7 and 2-6 in the Pac-12.

From the get-go it was clear that the Wildcats weren’t ready for the first matchup in their Washington road trip. After the Huskies opened the game on a 7-0 run, they extended their lead to 27-10, and then closed out the first half with a 49-21 advantage following a last-second basket by Jazmine Davis.

“Washington played a great game,” head coach Niya Butts said in a press release. “They were shooting the ball really well for the first 15 minutes or so. I think they took our confidence away when they started knocking down shots.”

Arizona had trouble containing Davis all night and she led all scorers with 28 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Davis and Washington center Regina Rogers alone combined to score 48 points — the same total as the entire Arizona team.

The Wildcats’ struggles primarily came as a result of poor shooting, where they shot 18-of-59 overall and 5-of-23 from 3-point range. Arizona also turned the ball over 23 times.

Wildcat junior guard Davellyn Whyte struggled shooting the ball for the second straight game, as she went just 3-of-15 from the field and scored 10 points. Over the last two games Whyte has shot a combined 6-of-31 for 18 points.

Shanita Arnold, who typically starts at point guard for Arizona, but came off the bench against Washington, led the Wildcats with 11 points and nine rebounds.

“I’m not sure what we had going on tonight, but it certainly isn’t the way we want to play basketball,” Butts said. “We need to find a way to bounce back for our game on Saturday.”