TUCSON, Ariz. — Junior Laura McLellan led the Huskies with 16 points, but Washington couldn’t hold a double-digit first-half lead and fell 72-62 to Arizona on Saturday.
Courtney Clements scored a season-high 22 points to lead the Wildcats, who swept the season series with Washington and avoided a tie with the Huskies for last place in the conference standings. Arizona was playing for the second-straight game without leading scorer forward Ify Ibekwe.
Washington, which lost it’s third-straight, led by as many as 14 points in the first half thanks to a solid team effort that included 10 points from McLellan, a forward-center. Christian Rozier’s lay-up with 3:17 to play before intermission gave Washington a 33-19 lead.
Arizona’s fortunes began to change when it switched late in the first half to a much more up-tempo, guard-oriented attack. After making the switch, the Wildcats closed the first half on a 9-1 run to get within 34-28 at the break. They also clamped down on defense, holding the Huskies without a field goal from just before halftime until the 14-minute mark of the second half — a drought that spanned 9:17.
Washington redshirt-freshman center Mackenzie Argens, who scored a career-high 12 points, sank a pair of free-throws in the opening minutes of the second-half to give the UW an eight point lead at 36-28.
Arizona responded with a 9-0 run that ended when Reiko Thomas made a pair of free throws to give the Wildcats a 37-36 lead at the 15:16 mark. Leading 46-44 midway a few minutes later, the Wildcats put the game out of reach with a 13-2 spurt to make it 59-46. Clements scored seven points in that burst.
Arizona St. 76, Washington St. 35
TEMPE, Ariz. — Dymond Simon scored 17 points to lead the 24th-ranked Sun Devils to their 14th straight victory.
April Cook had 13 points to lead the Cougars, who have lost four of five to fall into ninth place in the conference, a half-game behind Arizona.
Oregon St. 70, Oregon 41
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Brittney Davis scored 21 points and had four steals to lead the Beavers in their rout of the Ducks, who scored just 10 points in the second half.
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