TUCSON - The Arizona women's basketball team competed in its first exhibition of the season on Wednesday, defeating West Texas A&M 103-58.
Kailyn Gilbert led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting and was one of five Wildcats who scored in double digits. Helena Pueyo was the other member of the squad to hit the 20-point threshold, tallying 20 points that included four made three-pointers. Gilbert added seven rebounds, five assists and five steals to her stat line. She tied with Esmery Martinez as the squad's leading rebounder.
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The Wildcats went on a 17-0 run in the first quarter that was led by six points from Gilbert. The sophomore was at nine points and three rebounds by the end of the initial period, and as a team, the Wildcats posted an 83.3% field goal percentage in the first 10 minutes of play. Four Wildcats didn't miss a shot in the first quarter, including
Salimatou Kourouma's three makes on three shots.
Gilbert continued her impressive outing in the second quarter. The sophomore drained a three-pointer over her Lady Buffs defender, then grabbed the ball back from the Lady Buffs and with excellent dribbling she moved through a few defenders to make the layup.Â
Arizona allowed only two WTAMU points in the second frame, holding WTAMUÂ to 11.1% shooting from the field. The Cats additionally forced 14 Lady Buffs turnovers by the midpoint of the game.
Scoring for the Wildcats slowed in the third, but threes from Pueyo, Martinez and Gilbert helped the Cats to a 23-point quarter.
The Cats turned it on defensively to begin the fourth quarter by forcing the Lady Buffs to a shot clock violation in their first possession of the period. Five Cats made a shot in the fourth quarter to help propel the team over the 100-point threshold and to the 55-point victory.
The Wildcats will play in their final exhibition of the season Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 6:00 p.m. against Point Loma.
