Washington Rallies Late But Falls 72-70 at Arizona

Sunday, February 4

Tucson, AZ

11:00 AM

University of Washington

7-16, 1-11Pac12

Arizona

6-17, 2-10Pac12

Washington

Arizona

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

February 04, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

TUCSON, Ariz. – Despite a hot-shooting first half, Washington get the offense going until mounting a late charge. But that rally fell two points short as the Huskies lost 72-70 at Arizona on Sunday afternoon at the McKale Center.

The Huskies fall to 7-16 on the season and to 1-11 in the conference while the Wildcats improve to 6-17 and to 2-10 in Pac-12 action.

The game was a tale of two halves for the Huskies, who jumped out to a quick 10-1 lead and led by as many as 15 in the first half and leading 35-25 at halftime. However, Washington went cold to start the second half as Arizona began to heat up with the Wildcats outscoring the Huskies 42-16 over the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Huskies rallied late, closing the game on a 19-5 run but falling two points short in the loss.

Jenna Moser led the Huskies with 17 points, hitting four three-pointers and adding six rebounds. Mai-Loni Henson picked up her second double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Melgoza also added 13 points for the Huskies while Hannah Johnson added 10 points.

Lucia Alonzo added 19 points including 14 in the second half while Marlie Kyles added 13 points with 11 coming over the final 20 minutes.

Neither team found the bucket through the early going until Mai-Loni Henson drained a corner three to give the Huskies an early 3-0 lead. That would key a 11-1 run to open the game for the Huskies with Khayla Rooks scoring five of the first eight points for UW. The Wildcats hit their first field goal of the game—a three-pointer at the 5:09 mark which made it an 11-5 game at the first media timeout.

The Huskies continued their hot start with a 10-2 run capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Moser to take a 21-7 lead at the 2:44 mark. The teams would exchange points the rest of the way with Melgoza hitting a pair of free throws in the waning seconds to give Washington a 27-13 lead at the end of one.

Arizona opened the second quarter on a 12-3 run as the Huskies hit just 1-of-7 from the field and committed seven turnovers through the first seven minutes. But Alexis Griggsby ended a five-minute UW scoreless drought with a three-pointer which gave the Huskies a 33-25 lead with 2:31 to go before the half. Fapou Semebene kept the momentum going with a big offensive rebound and putback with just over a minute to go and the Huskies took a 35-25 lead to the half.

The Wildcats came out strong in the third quarter, going on a long 19-6 run over a five-minute stretch, taking a 50-45 lead on free throws with 2:44 left. The Huskies pulled it back to two with a three-pointer by Moser with 1:12 left, but Arizona drained a three at the buzzer to take a 56-51 lead into the final quarter.

Arizona would score the first 11 points of the fourth quarter including three consecutive three-pointers to take its largest lead of the game at 67-51 with 5:08 left. The Huskies did not go away quietly, though using a quick 9-2 run over the next two minutes to cut it back to nine. Washington still trailed by nine after a Wildcat free throw with 1:46 left, but that would be it for Arizona.

The Huskies got a jumper by Melgoza on the next possession, then forced a turnover and got a free throw by Semebene to make it a six-point game with 1:04 left. Washington then again forced an Arizona turnover with a minute to go but missed a jumper and Arizona got the ball back. The Huskies played solid defense but had just 10 seconds left when they got the ball again. Henson would cap the scoring with a corner three-pointer with 0.1 seconds on the clock, but it would be too little, too late.

After making just one three-pointer in the first half, Arizona connected on nine three-pointers in the second half. For the Huskies, they made seven over the first two quarters, but had just three in the second.

The Huskies forced 21 turnovers but were only able to turn them into 19 points. The 21 turnovers match the most UW has forced in conference play and was one off its season-high.

Washington returns home next week, hosting No. 6 Oregon on Friday, February 9, at 8:00 p.m. at Alaska Airlines Arena.