TUCSON, Ariz. – It's the last week of the regular season for Arizona, and this weekend, the Wildcats welcome the L.A. schools. First up is No. 15 UCLA on Friday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. MST on the Pac-12 Networks.
 
On the Bruins
The 15th-ranked UCLA Bruins come into Tucson after sweeping the Washington schools in L.A. last weekend. The Bruins were able to come away with a crucial 90-79 win over then-ranked No. 9 Washington on Feb. 17. UCLA had five players score in double figures with three of them score 15+. Monique Billings has been a stud for the Bruins in the post this season as she leads the team with 17.7 points per game and 11.1 rebounds per game. Jordin Canada has also been one of the best, if not the best point guard in the Pac-12 as she scores 17.6 points per game, dishes out a Pac-12 best 6.8 assists per game and grabs 5.4 rebounds per game, which is second on the team. Billings and Canada are third and fourth in scoring in the Pac-12, respectively. As a unit, UCLA scores 75.1 points per game, which is second in the conference.
 
Last 5 vs. Arizona State
1/29/17: at UCLA 69, Arizona 49
3/4/16: UCLA 72, Arizona 51
2/26/16: at UCLA 80, Arizona 53
2/7/16: UCLA 73, at Arizona 39
3/5/15: UCLA 80, Arizona 62
 
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 14th all-time with 1,196 career points. She moved into 14th against Washington on Feb. 10 as she passed Natalie Jones by scoring a game-high 22 points. She needs four more points to pass Lisa Griffith to be 13th all-time. The senior forward is averaging a career-high 14.8 points per game this season on 43% shooting. She has also made 12 threes this season after only making 14 in the previous three seasons and has made a career-high 88 free throws while attempting a career-high 124 free throw attempts.
 
Arizona Career Scoring Leaders
10. Kirsten Smith (1983-86), 1,264
11. Resha Bristol (1998-01), 1,260
12. Aimee Grzyb (2001-04), 1,227
13. Lisa Griffith (1997-00), 1,199
14. LaBrittney Jones (2013-pres.), 1,196
 
It's a Block Party and LB is Hosting
LaBrittney Jones has 150 career blocks through 111 games, which is good for an average of 1.4 swats per game and is now third on the Arizona all-time shot blocking list. After blocking four shots against Washington State on Feb. 12, she passed Elizabeth Pickney. Last year, she blocked 23 shots in 21 games and has a total of 51 this season, which is her career high for one season and is the seventh-most any Wildcat has blocked in a single season in school history. Throughout her career, she has posted 41 games where she has blocked multiple shots and as blocked 3+ shots in 20 games. Just this year, Jones has blocked at least three shots in seven games. Her career high was set back on Feb. 1, 2015 when she sent six shots into the seats.
 
Arizona Career Blocked Shots Leaders
1. Shawntinice Polk (2003-05), 222
2. Ify Ibekwe (2008-10), 166
3. LaBrittney Jones (2013-pres.), 150
 
Cleaning the Glass with LaBrittney
After recording 11 rebounds against Washington on Jan. 13, senior LaBrittney Jones moved into the top 10 in Arizona history in career rebounds. Jones is currently eighth all-time with 668 career boards. She needs 26 more to move into seventh place. She is also seventh in Arizona history as she averages 6.0 rebounds per game for her career.
 
Arizona Career Rebounding Leaders
4. Elizabeth Pickney (1999-02), 736
5. Dana Patterson (1985-88), 723
6. Davellyn Whyte (2009-13), 691
7. Amina Njonkou (2006-09), 690
8. LaBrittney Jones (2013-pres.), 665
 
Jones in the Pac-12
Through 27 games, Jones is 10th in the Pac-12 with 14.8 points per game and 11th with 6.8 rebounds per game. Additionally, 1.9 blocks per game for the senior is ranked third in the Pac-12. Jones' 5.2 defensive rebounds per game is eighth in the conference. In her last five games, Jones has shot 84% from the free throw line, which has moved her up to 15th in the Pac-12 at a 71% clip. The senior has led the Wildcats in scoring 14 times this season and has led the team in rebounds 14 times as well. Jones is one of four Pac-12 players to be in the top 11 in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots per game.
 
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 broke out of her slump against Washington State on Jan. 12 as she poured in 21 points against the Cougars. 13 of those points came in the third quarter alone. She followed that up with eight against Arizona State in a victory and 14 at Arizona State in a loss. The senior is 18th in the conference in scoring with a career-high 12.4 points per game and is fifth in free throw shooting (82.7%). She is 15th in the Pac-12 in assists per game as she dishes out just about three per contest. The Beaumont native has scored in double-figures in all but five games this season and has led the Wildcats in scoring seven times overall this season. In her last three games, Washington has scored 14.3 points per game.
 
Give 'em that Work
After scoring a combined five points in a combined 30 minutes on the Washington trip, Workman played very well in both Arizona State games. On Friday night, she scored 15 points and had seven rebounds in 33 minutes and followed that up with seven points, a career-high 11 rebounds and a career-high five steals. In her last six games, the senior averages eight points, seven rebounds and 1.5 steals.
 
Buenos Dias, Lucia
Freshman guard Lucia Alonso has started in the first 26 games of her college career at the point guard position. Alonso dished out a career-high nine assists against Washington on Jan. 13 and turned the ball over just two times. In Pac-12 play, Alonso has turned the ball over just 20 times in 16 games, which equates to 1.25 turnovers per game. As a freshman point guard in the best conference in the country that has a plethora of elite point guards, 1.25 turnovers per game isn't so bad. There have been five Pac-12 games this season where she hasn't turned the ball over and averaged 26.4 minutes per game in those five contests. In her last seven games, Alonso has committed just four turnovers. Alonso is just one of four players to average 29 minutes per game in conference play and turn the ball over 1.3 times or fewer. The other three are Natalie Romeo, Kari Korver and Lexi Bando. The Spaniard leads the team in three-point shooting (39%) minutes played (30.6) and is second in made three-pointers (20).
 
We See Ya JaLea
Bennett has been seeing a lot of action in the last month as she has averaged 7.7 points on 53% shooting in 22.1 minutes per game in her last 10 games. In her previous five games, she averaged just 10.2 minutes per game and scored 3.2 points per game1. Against Arizona State, Bennett cracked the starting lineup for the third time this season and the first time since Dec. 17. She played 27 minutes and had eight points. She followed that up with 11 points in another start at Arizona State.
 
Go DJ, That's My DJ
Senior Dejza James had a career night on Feb. 3 against Oregon as she scored a career-high 18 points on 8-12 shooting in 25 minutes off the bench. James also added in eight boards, four on the offensive end. Against Washington, James was a menace on the defensive end as she had a team-high 10 rebounds, blocked a career-high three shots and had a career-high three steals. She followed that performance up with 11 boards against Washington State. That is the first time in her career that she has posted back-to-back double-digit rebounding efforts. She scored seven points and had five rebounds against Arizona State on Feb. 17, all in the first half.
 
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.
 
Top Five Individual Scoring Efforts
26, Malena Washington (at NMSU, 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)
22, LaBrittney Jones (at Washington State, 2/12/17)
 
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 made a strong late effort against Oregon on Friday night as they scored 27 points in the fourth quarter after scoring just 38 in the first three quarters combined. Eight-straight and 10 of the last 11 highest scoring quarters have come in the fourth period for the Wildcats. Arizona scored 18 in the fourth quarter against Arizona State to preserve the victory.
 
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.)
Washington State: 19 (4th qtr.)
Stanford: 17 (2nd qtr.)
California: 22 (4th qtr.)
USC: 24 (4th qtr.)
UCLA: 14 (4th qtr.)
Oregon: 27 (4th qtr.)
Oregon State: 19 (4th qtr.)
Washington: 21 (4th qtr.)
Washington State: 22 (4th qtr.)
Arizona State: 18 (4th qtr.)
Arizona State: 22 (4th qtr.)
Average: 22 points
 
Winning the Turnover Battle
Arizona has won the turnover battle 11 of its last 19 games and has averaged just 16 turnovers in Pac-12 play. In its first 10 games of the season, Arizona averaged 19.9 turnovers per game and won the turnover battle just three times. Arizona has turned the ball over 12 times or fewer in three of their last five games.
 
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 450 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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