TUCSON, Ariz. – In front of the largest crowd in program history, the Arizona Wildcats surged by the Kansas Jayhawks in the second half to post a 67-52 win Monday afternoon at McKale Center.

The Wildcats improved to 3-1 on the young season with the victory, which came in front of 6,652 fans on School Day. Taryn Griffey led the Wildcats with 17 points and Malena Washington added 16. Sophomore JaLea Bennett also finished in double figures with 11 points.

“I am really happy with the way our team battled,” coach Niya Butts said. “We responded from a tough road loss at San Diego against a tough team. To come in here with only one day in between and being able to respond to a scouting report that was pretty lengthy, to a team that has a lot of drivers, our kids responded really well today, the young kids especially. I'm super proud of the job they did.”

The Wildcats led by just one point, 38-37, with 4:41 to play in the third quarter before exploding for a 20-1 run to take control of the game. Washington started the spurt with a layup and after Farrin Bell connected for a bucket, Washington hit another one to make it 44-37. Lauren Evans added a free throw to make it an eight-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth, Griffey opened the quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers to increase Arizona's lead to 14 at 51-37 with 8:39 to play in the game. After a layup from Bennett, Griffey connected for five straight points – a layup and another 3-pointer – to make it 58-38.

Griffey finished six of nine from the floor and three of five from deep. The redshirt freshman guard is now 11 of 19 from 3-point distance through four games this season.

“The first half, I was really focused on driving to the basket, so the second half it would open up opportunities for three-pointers,” Griffey said. “This game I wanted to focus on more than just shooting from three. Coach Butts has been telling me to drive to the basket more, so I just wanted to do what she has been wanting me to do.”

Griffey scored 13 of her 17 in the second half and was Arizona's leading scorer for the second time this season.

“Taryn has the green light to take that shot at any time, but the deeper into the season we go, people start to play you for that so she really needs to put the ball on the floor, get some mid-range shots, and she did that today,” Butts said. “I think that's why it opened up for her a bit on the outside."

As a team, Arizona was seven of 12 from 3-point distance. Washington, Miller, Dejza James and Michal Miller each had one in the win. The Wildcats are now shooting .528 (28-53) from deep as a team this season.

The Wildcats got contributions from several players in Monday's win, including junior Farrin Bell, who supplied key minutes off the bench and finished with three points, four assists, three rebounds and one block.

“To me, Farrin Bell was our player of the game,” Butts said. “She didn't score the most points but she stepped in at every position on the floor and made plays for us. So you have to be proud of that and we have to continue to celebrate each other's success as a team. If we can do that, the sky's the limit.”

In front of the large crowd, the Wildcats got better as the game went on. After being tied at 12 after the first quarter, Arizona outscored Kansas 19-16 in the second to take a three-point lead. Washington hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 31 seconds in the left to give the Wildcats momentum heading into the locker room.

It carried over to the second half when the Wildcats went on their run in front of the big audience.

“The crowd was great,” Bennett said. “When you have a big crowd it really gets your blood pumping. I felt their energy, so it made me really excited."

The Wildcats will head back out on the road for their next game when they travel to North Texas to take on the Mean Green on Friday, Nov. 27. Game time is set for 1 p.m., MST.