TUCSON, Ariz.--- Freshman guard Charise Holloway went for a career-high 20 points on an efficient 7-of-14 shooting from the field to keep Arizona within striking distance all day, but it wasn't quite enough, as the Wildcats fell 81-70 to Washington State, Saturday afternoon at McKale Center in the Pac-12 opener.

Holloway's 20-point outing goes down as Arizona's second-highest individual scoring performance of the season, while the four three-point conversions also is a new career-high.

Senior guard Candice Warthen nearly had herself a double-double, as she went for 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals. She's now scored in double figures in four consecutive contests.

Sophomore forward LaBrittney Jones represented Arizona's third and final double-digit scorer, as she put in 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while grabbing five rebounds and recording a block. Freshman guard JaLea Bennett also provided a positive spark off the bench, as she went for nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field.

The Arizona (7-5, 0-1 Pac-12) bench outscored the Washington State (10-2, 1-0 Pac-12) reserves 35-9, marking the third time in the last four games the Cats' bench has outscored the competition's

The Wildcats outrebounded the Cougars 38-35, as Arizona has now outrebounded its opponent in four of the last five contests.

Arizona's offense came out ready to play in this one, as it connected on 45 percent of its field goals for the game, including knocking down 14-of-29 second half shots for 48.3 percent.

Washington State connected on 5-of-12 first half three pointers eventually leading to a commanding 34-23 advantage with 4:39 remaining in the first half.

However, Arizona battled back with a quick 7-0 run of its own to make it just a 34-30 deficit with 1:35 left before halftime.

The Wildcats went into the halftime intermission trailing just 37-30 despite Washington State's 47.1 percent shooting from the field.

The Cougars continued to play well offensively, eventually taking a lead as high as 68-48 with 6:41 left to play, but Arizona fired back.

The Cats launched a furious 14-0 scoring run over the next three-plus minutes, while holding the Cougars to 0-of-7 from the field during that span to come within 68-62 with 3:15 remaining in the game, after Breanna Workman cleaned up a free throw miss.

Unfortunately that's as close as the Cats would get, as time ran out on Arizona's rally to snap what was a five-game home win streak.

The Wildcats aim to start another win streak, as they'll host Washington, Monday at 6 pm MST inside McKale Center. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks and can be heard on KTUC 1400 AM.

ARIZONA POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Niya Butts

Opening Statement
“Obviously I didn't like what the outcome of the game was. I didn't think we defended well today. I thought we were poor defensively which is usually our strength, but ironically today we shot the ball pretty well. We scored the ball enough to win, but we didn't defend the way we needed to. We gave up nine threes. That's not the way we want to play basketball. That's not what we want to allow to happen. They shot almost 50 percent. We certainly want to give credit to Washington State. They came in and they did what they had to do. We knew the two players that were going to take the shots, and we were supposed to be focusing on those young ladies, and they were still able to make plays, in part because they are very talented, but also because we didn't do what we needed to defensively. We have to address that and be ready to go.”

On Charise Holloway's performance
“She plays with a lot of energy. She hasn't been shooting the ball pretty lately, but today she came in and was able to knock down some threes, get to the basket, and do some really good things for us. She was a big piece today. Certainly without her we wouldn't have been in the situation we were in. With about 3:15 left to go I thought we had the momentum and then we couldn't come up with the rebound. They were able to make some plays there and we didn't do a good job of finishing our defense at all. We have to be better on Monday.”

On Arizona's 14-0 run in the second half to get back in it
“I was certainly was happy that we didn't quit. This group didn't quit. We got down by about 20. Washington State made that run there in the middle and we battled back. We were able to make some plays, and if we come up with that rebound we might be talking a different story, but we didn't. We allowed them way too many offensive rebounds, and they were able to get second chance points. We were able to get second chance points as well, but theirs were so timely.”