Huskies Fall 64-53 at No. 12 Arizona

Friday, February 14

Tucson, AZ

6:00 PM

University of Washington

11-13,3-10Pac12

Arizona

20-4,9-4Pac12

Washington

Arizona

Photo by: Brian Morse / Washington Athletics

February 14, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

TUCSON, Ariz. --- Amber Melgoza scored a game-high 22 points including 15 in the second half, but Washington could not find enough late to pull the upset, falling 64-53 at No. 12 Arizona on Friday night at the McKale Center.

The Huskies fall to 11-13 on the season and to 3-10 in Pac-12 play as they lost for just the fourth time away from home this year with two of those coming in OT. The Wildcats move to 20-4 and to 9-4 in the conference. Arizona has not lost to a team outside of the top 10 this season.

Melgoza connected on 7-of-14 from the field including going 2-of-3 from three-point range to lead Washington's offense. It was Melgoza's sixth 20+ point game of the season. She also added three assists, four rebounds and a steal and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

Mai-Loni Henson and Darcy Rees each contributed 10 points, but the rest of the Huskies were only able to tally 11 combined points in the game.

Both teams started the game slowly with Darcy Rees getting the team on the board with a bucket at the 8:53 mark. The teams would go back and forth with Arizona leading by one after back-to-back baskets made it 6-5 at the 7:01 mark. Washington answered with a tough bucket by Melgoza followed by a three-pointer by Ali Bamberger to make it 10-6 at the media timeout. The teams would exchange three-pointers the rest of the way with the Huskies holding a 13-12 lead after one.

The teams would trade more three-pointers to open the second quarter with Rees hitting one for UW followed by a nice layup to stretch the Husky lead to 18-15 three minutes in. But Arizona would hit a three on the other end and follow with a steal and bucket to go up two. The Huskies closed it back to one at the media timeout, but the Wildcats would hit back-to-back three-pointers to quickly stretch the lead to seven with 2:02 left. The teams would exchange buckets the rest of the way the Wildcats scoring a pair of free throws as the half expired to take a 32-26 edge to the locker.

The Huskies opened the third quarter with a nice bucket from Henson but a 9-0 run by Arizona would give the Wildcats a 43-30 lead at the 6:05 mark. Rees ended the run with a three-pointer but after the teams traded three-pointers, Arizona got back-to-back buckets to take a 50-36 lead at the 2:27 mark. But the Huskies ended the quarter strong as Haley Van Dyke got a steal and layup and Melgoza hit a pair of free throws to make it a 10-point game at 50-40 through three.

Arizona got a three-point play to open the fourth, though Melgoza answered with a three-point play of her own at the 8:33 mark. But the Husky offense went cold, going nine possessions without a bucket with seven of them ending in a turnover. Meanwhile, Arizona broke the game open with a 9-0 run to make it a 62-43 game with 3:45 to go. Melgoza ended the run with a three-point play followed by a three-pointer by Khayla Rooks as the Huskies closed the game on a 10-2 run but fell short in the end.

The Huskies struggled with turnovers on the night, committing 21 turnovers which led to 15 points by Arizona. Washington did hold a 31-24 rebounding edge in the contest, but committed more turnovers in the contest then the Huskies forced for just the eighth time this season.

Washington returns to action on Sunday, playing at No. 22 Arizona State at 11:00 a.m. PT.