TUCSON, Ariz.--- What was a milestone night for Candice Warthen, almost doubled as an upset win for Arizona over No. 9/8 Oregon State, as the Wildcats trailed by just six at halftime, but unfortunately couldn't sustain the positive momentum, dropping a 73-55 decision, Friday night at McKale Center.

For Warthen, the performance was a special one, as she dropped a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, while pulling down a team-best seven rebounds. She now has 982 points in her Wildcat career, moving her into 19th place on Arizona's all-time scoring list. The 22 points scored is also the largest scoring output for any Wildcat so far this season.

Sophomore forward LaBrittney Jones returned to her dominant form, as she notched her eighth double-figure scoring game of the season, pouring in 11 points, grabbing five rebounds, and recording a career-high three blocks on the night.

Sophomore Malena Washington was effective from the point guard position, as she scored six points on 3-of-7 shooting, while dishing out a team-high equaling three assists.

Arizona (7-11, 0-7 Pac-12) outscored Oregon State (17-1, 7-0 Pac-12) 11-7 off of turnovers, while the Wildcats committed just eight turnovers to the Beavers' 15.

The Wildcats put a scare into the Beavers early in this one. OSU's Ali Gibson hit a three-pointer to open things up, but UA quickly put together an impressive 11-2 run of its own to claim an 11-5 advantage with 16:22 left to play in the first half.

Arizona wouldn't go away either, as Oregon State never led by more than five points until the closing seconds of the first half. The Wildcats went into the halftime locker room trailing just 38-32.

UA won the first half battle in the paint, outscoring OSU 16-14 despite the Beavers boasting six players taller than the Wildcats' tallest athlete.

Arizona continued to battle in the second half, trailing just 52-42 midway through the period.

Unfortunately, in the end Oregon State proved why it's considered one of the top teams in the country, grinding its way to the 18-point victory.

The Wildcats will get back after it on Sunday, as they'll take on Oregon at 1 pm MST inside McKale Center. Fans can catch the game locally on KTUC 1400 AM.

ARIZONA POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach- Niya Butts
Opening Statement

“First off, I want to give credit to Oregon State for coming in and making shots and being able to make enough plays to make its run in the second half and bust the game wide open. I obviously don't like the outcome, we probably played about 25 minutes of solid basketball. I thought we did a really good job of executing the game plan even though we gave up seven threes in the first half. We took good care of the basketball and executed our offense. It was still a two possession game in the first half and that showed we were doing some things right. In the second half, the first two, three minutes told the story. We didn't come out with as much fire as we had. We made some mistakes.

On being aggressive from three point line
“We have to attack and we can't settle for jump shots. Take a look at our three-point percentage, we don't need to be shooting a ton of threes every game. We just have to continue to be aggressive. We got more shot attempts then they did. We shot the ball 62 times and they shot the ball 57. We were getting offensive rebounds. We have to be better.”

On combating Oregon State's bigs tonight
“We are going to get open shots, we had open shots. We hit some of those and some of those we missed. We have to continue to be aggressive and attack. You have to make plays going to the basket and going to the rim. At the same time you have to keep your distance. We have to continue to knock down shots and be patient. You have to work the clock and make them make the mistakes.”

Looking ahead to Oregon
“Overall, our whole mindset needs to be “attack.” We need to execute the game plan and do what we've been working on. If we do that for 40 minutes, it will give us a chance to compete with anybody.”   

Senior Guard- Candice Warthen
On her successful shooting night

"It was a matter of confidence for me tonight. I haven't really been myself lately and we have been struggling as a whole, so it was a point of focus for me tonight to come out and be confident in my shot. I know what I am capable of."

On coming out aggressive in the first half:
"It had a lot to do with our mindset. We have had a couple team meetings and talks for the past couple of days and it definitely helped us in the first half. Unfortunately it just didn't convert to the second half tonight."

Sophomore Forward- LaBrittney Jones
On maintaining a good level of intensity throughout the game:

"I really wanted to get this win tonight and we had a team meeting last night. We talked about things and I said that I was going to give more. We just came up a little short.”

On battling Oregon State's height advantage
"It was pretty tough, but we had worked on a lot of post defense in practice this week so our main goal was focusing on trying to work out the defense."

Follow the Cats!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/ArizonaAthletics), Twitter (@AZATHLETICS), Instagram (azathletics) and YouTube.com (Youtube.com/ArizonaAthletics). In addition, the women's basketball team has established its own official Facebook (Facebook.com/ArizonaWomensBasketball), Twitter (@ArizonaWBBall), and Instagram (ArizonaWBBall) accounts.