TUCSON, Ariz. – The Arizona Wildcats (10-6, 1-4 Pac-12) are set to host the Washington State Cougars (8-9, 3-3 Pac-12) on Sunday at noon MST in McKale Center on the Pac-12 Networks. Both the Wildcats and the Cougars are coming off of losses.
 
On the Cougars
The Washington State Cougars (8-9, 3-3 Pac-12) are coming off a loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils after winning three-straight conference games. The Cougs were very impressive last week as they swept the L.A. schools. Washington State has three double-figure scorers in Borislava Hristova (14.7), Chanelle Molina (12.8) and Louise Brown (10.4). Molina has won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week in back-to-back weeks.
           
Last 5 vs. Washington State
2/19/16: Washington State 62, at Arizona 61
1/10/16: at Washington State 67, Arizona 46
1/5/15: Washington State 81, at Arizona 70
1/3/14: at Washington State 61, at Arizona 59
2/1/13: Washington State 60, at Arizona 50
 
Jones Joins the 1K Club
Senior LaBrittney will go down as one of the great Wildcats in school history. Jones scored her 1,000th career point in the fourth quarter on Friday, Jan 6 against Colorado on a fast break layup to make her Arizona's 19th 1,000-point scorer in school history. Since then, she has climbed up to 18th all-time with 1,047 career points. She needs 14 more points to pass Kim Conway to be 17th all-time. The senior forward is averaging a career-high 15.4 points per game this season on 46% shooting. She has also made nine threes this season after only making 14 in the previous three seasons.
 
Arizona Career Scoring Leaders
14. Natalie Jones (2003-06), 1,149
15. Yolanda Turner (1984-87), 1,144
16. Candice Warthen (2010-15), 1,128
17. Kim Conway (1990-94), 1,060
18. LaBrittney Jones (2013-pres.), 1,047
 
It's a Block Party and LB is Hosting
LaBrittney Jones has 133 career blocks through 100 games, which is good for an average of 1.3 swats per game and is fourth on the Arizona all-time shot blocking list. Last year, she blocked 23 shots in 21 games and she already has a total of 34 this season. Throughout her career, she has posted 36 games where she has blocked multiple shots and as blocked 3+ shots in 19 games. Just this year, Jones has blocked at least three shots in six games this year and had a combined seven swatations against Colorado and Utah last weekend. Her career high was set back on Feb. 1, 2015 when she sent six shots into the seats. This year, Jones is second in the Pac-12 with 2.1 blocks per game.
 
Arizona Career Blocked Shots Leaders
1. Shawntinice Polk (2003-05), 222
2. Ify Ibekwe (2008-10), 166
3. Elizabeth Pickney (1999-02), 147
4. LaBrittney Jones (2013-pres.), 133
 
Cleaning the Glass with LaBrittney
After recording 10 rebounds against Washington on Friday, senior LaBrittney Jones is now 10th all-time in Arizona history with 605 career rebounds. She is also tied for sixth in Arizona history as she averages 6.1 rebounds per game for her career.
 
Arizona Career Rebounding Leaders
6. Davellyn Whyte (2009-13), 691
7. Amina Njonkou (2006-09), 690
8. Kim Conway (1990-94), 647
9. Krista Warren (2000-03), 644
10. LaBrittney Jones (2013-pres.), 603
 
Jones in the Pac-12
Through 16 games, Jones averages 15.7 points per game, which is ninth in the Pac-12, 7.6 rebounds per game, which is 10th in the Pac-12 and 2.1 blocks, which is ranked second in the Pac-12. Additionally, Jones' 6.1 defensive rebounds per game is fifth in the conference. In Pac-12 play, Jones is averaging 18.2 points and seven rebounds on 47% shooting. Jones' 18.2 points in Pac-12 play ranks third amongst all Pac-12 players and trails just Washington's Kelsey Plum and California's Kristine Anigwe. She also averages two blocks per game as well. Jones has led the Wildcats in scoring eight times this season and has led the team in rebounds 10 times.
 
Washington's World
Although she is a senior, Malena Washington is entering just her third season as a Wildcat as she started her career at Tyler Junior College, where she was named a JC All-American. Washington exploded for a career-high 26 points against New Mexico State. 22 of her points came after halftime and 14 of them came in overtime. The senior also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds and made a career-high 10 free throws. She made eight alone in overtime, which would've been set a new career-high even if she hadn't made one before overtime. Washington was very effective against Colorado and Utah as she averaged 16.5 points and five assists on 46% shooting. She followed that up with 11 points and five assists against Washington. The senior averages just a hair under five assists in Pac-12 play. The Beaumont native has scored in double-figures in all but two games this season and has led the Wildcats in scoring four times this season. Additionally, Washington has made at least one three-pointer in all but three games this season and has made at least one in seven-straight games. The senior is 14th in the conference in scoring with 13.4 points per game and is second in free throw shooting (84.4%), only behind Washington's Kelsey Plum (90.2%).
 
Buenos Dias, Lucia
Freshman guard Lucia Alonso has started in the first 16 games of her college career at the point guard position. So far, she averages 6.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.4 rebounds, just under one steal and makes about one three-pointer per game. Alonso dished out a career-high nine assists against Washington on Friday and turned the ball over just two times. In her last six games, Alonso has an assist/turnover ratio of 3.5/1. During that time, she has dished out 21 assists and has turned the ball over six times. She hasn't turned the ball over more than twice since Dec. 21. The Spaniard leads the team in three-point shooting (46%) minutes played (33.4) and is third in made three-pointers (15%). There have only been three games this season when Alonso didn't play at least 30 minutes.
 
Give 'em That Work
Senior Breanna Workman came off the bench in the first nine games of the season and has started in the last seven. Over the last 10 games, Workman has scored 9.4 points per game and has grabbed 4.8 boards per game in 25.9 minutes per contest. In the first four games of the season, Workman scored just 5.3 points per game and averaged 2.5 rebounds per game on 29% shooting. For the season, Workman is averaging a career-high 8.5 points and 4.7 rebounds and has scored in double-figures in seven of her last 11 games.
 
We See Ya JaLea
Junior wing JaLea Bennett had a career night against Southern Utah on Nov. 26 as she scored 21 points off the bench for a new career high. Her previous career high was 18 points. Against Southern Utah, she shot 7-11 from the field, made one three-pointer and was 6-6 from the charity stripe. Bennett is sixth in the Pac-12 in free throw shooting (78.6%) and leads the team with 1.3 steals per game.
 
Go DJ, That's My DJ
Senior Dejza James had the best game of her career against Utah State as she recorded her first career double-double in the first half alone. She finished the game with a season-high 14 points and brought down a career-high 14 rebounds. James was incredibly efficient in the short amount of court time she got against Utah as she scored eight points and had six rebounds in just nine minutes of action. She followed that up with 11 points and four rebounds in 13 minutes against Washington.
 
TG For Three
Redshirt Sophomore Taryn Griffey has been through her fair share of adversity as she has undergone multiple knee surgeries, but she is back this year after having a solid start to her college career in the 2015-16 season. Last year, she shot 42.4% from downtown, which was the third-highest three-point percentage for one season in school history. So far this year, has knocked down 39% of her threes this year (16-41) and also has a career three-point field goal percentage of 41.3% (52-126). Griffey came off the bench and scored a season-high 19 points in a season-high 27 minutes against Florida Atlantic back on Dec. 1, which is a season-high for her. After sitting out against San Diego, Grambling State, Kansas and Utah State due to precautionary reasons, she came back against Portland State and scored six points off the bench in 15 minutes. She knocked down two three-pointers and blocked a career-high two shots. Griffey saw 18 minutes of action in each game against Colorado and Utah and scored seven points against Utah. Against Washington, she scored six points in 19 minutes.
 
A Dominating Performance
The Wildcats played perhaps their best game of the season on the road at Utah last Sunday as they defeated the Utes by a score of 81-70. Arizona dominated the game from the 5:30 mark in the second quarter on. The Wildcats took a 26-25 lead with 5:30 left in the second quarter and didn't look back. At one point, Arizona led the Utes by 18 points in the fourth quarter. 81 points tied a season-high for Arizona as a team (scored 81 at George Mason on Nov. 18), 34 made shots and 70 attempted shots are season-highs and it was Arizona's fourth-highest field goal percentage (49%). Additionally, the Wildcats turned it over just 10 times, which ties a season-low.
 
Bucket City
Through 16 games this season, the Wildcats average 69 points per game. The last time an Arizona team averaged at least 69 points through 16 games was back in the 2011-12 season when the squad averaged 71 points per game. Davellyn Whyte averaged 19.2, Candice Warthen averaged 16.8 and Erica Barnes averaged 12.8 poi7ts per game. That team had a record of 12-4 through 16 games.
 
Top Five Individual Scoring Efforts
26, Malena Washington (at New Mexico State, 12/4/16)
24, LaBrittney Jones (at Utah, 1/8/17)
24, LaBrittney Jones (vs. California, 12/29/16)
23, LaBrittney Jones (vs. North Texas, 11/22/16)
22, Malena Washington (at Colorado, 1/6/17)
 
About That Third Quarter
It's not even close, the third quarter has been Arizona's best quarter in the 2016-17 season. Through 16 games, the Wildcats have scored 339 points, good for an average of 21.2 points on 49% shooting (130-268). Arizona outscores their opponents by just under six points in the third quarter.
 
Like Clockwork
It's inevitable that Arizona will have at least one big quarter in a game, it just depends on when. Arizona's best quarter of all time though came last game against San Diego as the Wildcats scored 33 points in the third period, which is the most points scored in one quarter in Arizona history. They also hit 12 of their 16 shots, which is the most made shots in one quarter as well. Arizona scored 21 points in both the third and fourth quarters against Washington.
 
List of Arizona's highest scoring periods (game-by-game)
Alcorn State: 21 (3rd/4th qtrs.)
George Mason: 28 (4th qtr.)
North Texas: 19 (2nd/4th qtrs.)
Southern Utah: 23 (4th qtr.)
Florida Atlantic: 26 (3rd qtr.)
New Mexico State: 18 (OT)
San Diego: 33 (3rd qtr.)
Grambling State: 24 (3rd qtr.)
Kansas: 16 (4th qtr.)
Utah State: 21 (3rd qtr.)
Portland State: 29 (3rd qtr.)
California: 22 (3rd qtr.)
Stanford: 21 (1st qtr.)
Colorado: 18 (3rd qtr.)
Utah: 27 (3rd qtr.)
Washington: 21 (3rd+4th qtrs.)
Average: 22.9 points
 
Cats Have the Clutch Gene
Through 15 games this season, Arizona has shot a combined 46% (115-249) in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Wildcats have shot at least 50% in the fourth quarter in five games this season and shot 64% against Southern Utah on Nov. 26.
 
Winning the Turnover Battle
Arizona has won the turnover battle five of the last eight games and has averaged just 13.6 in its last five games. In its first 10 games of the season, Arizona averaged 19.9 turnovers per game and won the turnover battle just three times.
 
One Last Go Around
Of the 12 players on the roster, five of them are seniors, which is the most in the Pac-12 as no other team has more than four seniors on their roster. Those five seniors include LaBrittney Jones, Malena Washington, Breanna Workman, Lauren Evans and Dejza James. They have combined to play in 395 games.
 
Barnes is Back
Adia Barnes is back in Wildcat Country, and this time it's as the head coach of the University of Arizona. Barnes is known as one of, if not the best women's basketball player to come through Tucson. As a player, she is the program's leading scorer as she finished with 2,237 career points (18.5 ppg). She is also second all-time in career rebounds (921). During Barnes' freshman year in the 1994-95 season, the Cats finished with a record of 11-19. The next three years were a complete turnaround as the Wildcats won at least 22 games in each season and made a three-straight postseason appearances. Over those three years, Arizona was 68-23, which is still the best three-year stretch in Arizona history.
 
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