TUCSON, Ariz. – It was quite a back and forth affair, but the Arizona Wildcats (6-17, 2-10 Pac-12) were able to hold off Washington's (7-16, 1-11 Pac-12) late push to give them their second conference win of the season by a score of 72-70. Lucia Alonso led all scorers with 19 points and gave Arizona their first win over Washington since 2011.
 
"I am really proud of the way we battled," head coach Adia Barnes said. "It was great to see this team effort. It was a great win for us at home. We knew it was going to be a battle but we stepped up and fought back."
 
The Wildcats shot 40% from the field and 48% from downtown, which is its highest three-point percentage of the season. Alonso was a huge part of that as she knocked down five of her six attempts.
 
Individually, Sam Thomas recorded her third double-double of the season, scoring 11 points and bringing down 10 rebounds. The freshman also blocked four shots and had two steals. JaLea Bennett pitched in 14 points of her own and Marlee Kyles scored 13 off the bench.
 
"The fact that we're underdogs, no one expects us to win," Kyles said. "I think we have to play with a chip on our shoulder. We have to want it like this every game because if we play like that, we're going to turn a lot of heads."
 
Washington got off to a hot start from beyond the arc in the first quarter, knocking down five of them to give the Huskies a 27-13 lead after one. Arizona cut the lead to 10 at the half thanks to eight points by Bennett. The Wildcats allowed just eight points in the second quarter and forced the Huskies into 23% shooting.
 
Arizona exploded for 31 points in the third quarter, which is the most they have scored in a single quarter all season and is the most since Dec. 7, 2016. On the defensive side, they held the Huskies to just 16 points to take a 56-51 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
The start of the fourth quarter could not have gone much better as Arizona extended their lead to 16 with five minutes to go in the game, but Washington would make a run to cut the lead to five with 54 seconds left. The Dawgs did manage to hit one three-pointer to cut the lead to two, but it was with 0.1 seconds left, giving no time for one more shot.

The Wildcats are back in action next week in Los Angeles with a game Friday night against UCLA at 9 p.m. MST.
 
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