TUCSON, Ariz.--- For the second time in its last three wins, Arizona led from wire-to-wire, as sophomore forward LaBrittney Jones secured her fourth career double-double, leading the Wildcats to convincing 65-51 victory over Grambling State, Wednesday night at McKale Center.

For Arizona (3-3), the win marks its third victory in its last four contests and its second consecutive home win, while the Wildcats have won their last two home affairs by an average of 21 points. The Cats shot a season-best 25-of-51 from the field for 49 percent on the night.

Redshirt freshman forward Dejza James recorded the best offensive night of her Arizona career, as she scored a career-best and game-high 14 points on an efficient 6-of-9 shooting from the field, while also picking up her first two steals of the season.

Jones had a night to remember as well, putting up 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season, while recording a season-high tying two blocks on the night. The sophomore has scored in double figures in back-to-back games and in three of her last four contests.

Keyahndra Cannon, JaLea Bennett and Charise Holloway all put together nice shooting nights as well, combining to go 11-of-16 from the field.

As a team the Cats shot 25-of-51 from the field for a season-high 49 percent, while they won the battle in the paint for the fourth consecutive game, outscoring Grambling State (2-5) 40-25 down low. Arizona also won the battle of the benches for the fourth straight game, outscoring the Lady Tiger reserves 33-22. The Cats outrebounded Grambling State 43-28 and won the second-chance point battle 10-7.

Arizona came out firing, scoring the first six points of the game, eventually leading to a 17-7 advantage at the 11:24 mark of the first half, after Cherice Harris drained her first career three pointer from the top of the key.

Things would get even better for the Cats, as they eventually took a 37-18 lead into halftime, scoring 22 of those points in the paint, while holding the Lady Tigers to just 25 percent shooting for the half.

Arizona stayed hot in the second half, extending its lead at one point to as high as 49-24 with 14:37 remaining after James converted on two of her career-high 14 points.

The Cats never looked back from there, as they cruised to their third victory of the season.

Arizona will now head back to the East Coast, as it'll take on ACC member Wake Forest, Sunday at 11:00 a.m. MST.

Game Notes: Arizona improves to 2-0 vs. first-time opponents this season (FIU and Grambling State)…Cats improve to 1-0 all-time vs. Grambling State…Dejza James' 14 points is tied for the most points Arizona has received from an individual off the bench this season…Cats improve to 3-0 when scoring in the 60s this season…UA has shot over 47 percent from the field in two of its last three games. 

ARIZONA POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach- Niya Butts
On the overall performance
“I liked our first half action. I thought we played pretty solid. We fouled too much in the first half, but I thought other than that we made some solid plays and rebounded the ball pretty well. Turnovers were a major factor for us. We turned the ball over 24 times. That was very frustrating for me on that side.”

On LaBrittney Jones' game
“Certainly tonight, especially in the first half, I thought she finished well. She was five for five after the first half and we certainly needed that. Coming up with that double- double, she needed a bounce back game. I think she probably has gone about two or three games where she has been subpar, so she needed this game tonight. I thought Dejza James was big for us offensively as well tonight. Alli Gloyd was huge on the boards for us. She only had five, but they were five big ones in the first half.

Sophomore Forward- LaBrittney Jones
On the double-double 
“My teammates kept finding me in the paint, so I had a lot of easy buckets and I just scratched my hardest to try and get rebounds.”

Senior Guard- Candice Warthen
On cutting down on the turnovers 
“We have to slow down. When teams pressure us, we seem to play faster and that tends to make us turn the ball over a lot. So we have to slow down and execute our offense better.”

On Grambling State's pressure defense
“They kind of did a diamond press on us. I wouldn't say we weren't ready for it, but they didn't do it in the first half at all and it caught me by surprise in the second half, so we had to try and adjust.”

Redshirt Freshman Forward- Dejza James
On her 14 points off the bench 
“Like LB (LaBrittney Jones) said, our guards really focused on finding us bigs today. We know we had the better matchup with them being mostly guards, so we really focused on moving the ball in the paint, and they found me and I just happened to finish tonight.”

What Arizona needs to work on moving forward
“There's always work to be done. Offense is one of the biggest things we've been working on. We worked a lot on defense since the end of summer and we think we do a pretty good job on defense for the most part. Of course, we could get better at that too, but offense is something we're really trying to get better at. We're really trying to finish more shots and shoot a better percentage from the floor.

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