Monday, February 10, 2014 • Page 7
SPORTS dailywildcat.com/sports
Editor: James Kelley sports@wildcat.arizona.edu (520) 621-2956 twitter.com/wildcatsports
MEN’S BASKETBALL
CATS DAM BEAVERS
TRACK & FIELD WINS THREE EVENTS IN NY
Wildcats overcome slow start to rout Oregon State 76-54
The Wildcats’ dominance on the glass has transferred into points, as they outscored the Oregon schools For the eighth consecutive in the paint 72-36. game and 22nd time this season, Sunday, Arizona prevented Arizona’s defense held the Oregon State from making a single opposition to under 70 points. second-chance bucket. The Wildcats (23-1, 10-1 Pac-12) “That’s basically what Coach defeated Oregon State (13-10, 5-6) talks about before we go out and 76-54 Sunday at McKale Center. play,” freshmen forward Aaron Through two full games, Arizona Gordon said. “He talks about has overcome the injury to starting our identity, and our identity forward Brandon Ashley by is offensive rebounding and emphasizing team rebounding defensive rebounding. I took it and defense. upon myself to block out well “We’re not going to be able to today.” replace Arizona’s Brandon; go-to scorer, CAT STATS: we have junior guard to do it as Nick Johnson, a team,” once again h e a d had an c o a c h inconsistent Worth Noting S e a n performance. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Miller It wasn’t Freshman Forward 2nd Pac-12 Start, 16 points, 5 rebounds said. “I until Gordon’s believe we low post Roberto Nelson Senior Guard can still 10 points, 3-12 field goals, 30 mins presences NELSON be a good HOLLIS-JEFFERSON emerged that Arizona began to rebounding team. If you take five dominate the paint and pull away. guys and block out you can keep Arizona went on a 14-5 run in the the other team off the glass. Tonight final 6:30 of the first half to take a we did that.” 10-point lead into the half. Despite missing the 6-foot-8 “Aaron and Rondae [HollisAshley, Arizona has controlled Jefferson] are the two players who the paint in its last two games. have had to adjust more than The Wildcats out-rebounded the any other players on our team to Beavers by 15 and out scored them playing without Brandon,” Miller in the paint by 28. said. “Aaron no longer plays any Arizona has tallied 30 offensive [small forward], he did it the whole rebounds while only giving up 17. BY LUKE DELLA
The Daily Wildcat
SCORE CENTER BADGERS STUN SPARTANS Wisconsin 60 No. 9 Michigan State 58
JOHNNIES SHOCK BLUEJAYS St. John’s 70 Creighton 65
SYRACUSE WINS AT HOME AGAIN No. 1 Syracuse 57 Clemson 44
TEAM FIGURE SKATING DEBUTS Gold: Russia Silver: Canada Bronze: USA
76-54
M BASKETBALL, 9
TYLER BAKER/THE DAILY WILDCAT
FRESHMAN FORWARD Aaron Gordon tries to dunk the ball during the first half of Arizona’s 54-76 win against Oregon State at McKale Center on Sunday. Gordon ended his shooting slump.
TENNIS
Women stay perfect with three more wins BY MATT WALL
The Daily Wildcat
ON THIS DATE Feb. 10, 1991 No. 5 Arizona men’s basketball beat No. 14 UCLA 105-94 in overtime in Los Angeles. The Wildcats finished the 1990-91 season 28-7, Pac-10 champions, and made it to the Sweet 16.
NUMBER OF THE DAY
9
Arizona women’s hoops’ 68-49 blowout of No. 11 ASU is the Wildcats’ first win over a ranked team in nine years. Arizona’s last victory over a ranked team was on Jan. 16, 2005, against No. 19 UCLA.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Wildcats upset No. 11 ASU BY ROBERTO PAYNE
No. 73 Arizona women’s tennis remained undefeated this season with three victories at home this weekend. The Wildcats capitalized on their second double-header in two weeks, defeating Grand Canyon (4-0) and UTEP (5-0) on Friday and Sacramento State (40) on Sunday. In doubles play, seniors Kim Stubbe and Susan Mc Rann defeated Alex Petrzalkova and Silvia Tumova of Grand Canyon 6-1. Senior Akilah James and freshman Lauren Marker shut out Frederique Van de Velde and Janaki Gunuganti to win 6-0, earning the doubles point for Arizona. Sophomore Inge Hendrikx, Stubbe and Marker all won in singles matches to secure the victory for Arizona. In the UTEP match, Marker and James started the Wildcats off strong, defeating Marie LeBlond and Gabi Vazquez 6-0.
The Daily Wildcat
REBECCA MARIE SASNETT/THE DAILY WILDCAT
THE WOMEN’S TENNIS team celebrates after winning 6-1, against San Francisco at LaNelle Robson Tennis Center on Feb. 2. The Wildcats are undefeated.
Sophomore Shayne Austin and senior Lacey Smyth continued that momentum, defeating Rebeca Calvillo and Davina Meza 6-2. Austin, Stubbe, Smyth and Marker all won for Arizona in singles matches, once again securing the win. “It was a long day of tennis for the team,” head coach Vicky
Maes said in a press release, “but we performed well all day. Both GCU and UTEP made us work for the points. We are making good improvements in doubles, and everyone played smart and patient in singles.” On the other hand, the Sacramento State match was a bit more competitive. Getting off
TENNIS, 9
An offensive explosion fueled Arizona women’s basketball’s upset over rival No. 11 ASU to snap an 11 game losing streak and beat the Sun Devils for the first time since 2011. The Wildcats led the whole game and pulled away in the second half on Sunday, winning 68-49. The victory comes on the heels of a frustrating 60-36 loss to ASU in Tempe, Ariz. on Tuesday in which the Wildcats scored only 10 points in the second half. Arizona led by as many as 21 points in its first Pac-12 conference win of the season. Leading Arizona (5-18, 1-11) was the senior duo of forward Erica Barnes and guard Carissa Crutchfield. They combined for 34 points and 8 rebounds on 60.9 percent shooting the field. “Obviously we needed this one,” Barnes said. “We pulled together, stayed together, played together. We
W HOOPS, 9
SOFTBALL
Mercy killings: UA sweeps USM
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BY LUKE DELLA
The Daily Wildcat
TWEET TO NOTE Congrats to all on an #UndefeatedWeekend!! #BearDown @APlayersProgram @ArizonaWBBall @ArizonaMTennis @ArizonaWTennis
—@UA_Softball, Arizona Softball
It was a good weekend for Arizona sports, which saw the basketball teams, the tennis teams, the swimming and diving teams, softball and hockey go undefeated. Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/wildcatsports
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TYLER BAKER/THE DAILY WILDCAT
FRESHMAN INFIELDER Mo Mercado hits the ball during Arizona’s 14-2 win over Southern Mississippi on Saturday.
Arizona softball finished its three-game sweep of Southern Mississippi on Sunday afternoon with a convincing 12-0 five-inning win. The 12-run victory by the Wildcats concluded their first series of the season. Arizona (3-0) opened its 2014 season by outscoring the Golden Eagles (0-3) by 33 runs in all three games combined. The Wildcats run-ruled Southern Mississippi in the three games and gave up just four hits as well. “First weekend we had good energy,” said head coach Mike Candrea after Sunday’s win. “Each weekend is kind of a test, and you either pass or fail the test, and go back to the drawing board.” Sunday, Candrea received a strong performance in the circle by starting Arizona pitcher Estela Piñon. The senior went three innings and gave up zero hits while striking out seven in the process. Piñon was relieved to start the fourth inning by Friday’s starter, senior Kenzie Fowler. Candrea said he brought in Fowler to get her used to relieving, as he believes that could be a valuable role for her later in the season. Fowler pitched four innings on Friday and two on Sunday. “One thing I like about this team right now is we have a lot of options,” Candrea said. “We have a lot of kids that can come in and help in different roles, and the sooner we can establish those and get them to understand what they may be called
upon to do in the game will be huge for us. “ The Wildcats had a strong team effort at the plate Sunday afternoon, getting their 12 runs on 11 hits. Freshman second baseman Mo Mercado led the way by driving in five runs on three hits. “I felt pretty comfortable today,” Mercado said. “I had a pretty slow start yesterday and the day before, so today I tried a different approach with a real relaxed mindset and saw the ball well.” Mercado only had one hit in the first two games. “The big thing about hitting is that it’s a game of numbers,” Candrea said. “You’re going to go through some ups and downs. It’s about controlling what you can. [Mercado] is the type of kid that will continue to keep a good mindset.” In the first and fourth innings of Sunday’s game, Arizona was held scoreless. They were the only two innings this weekend where it was unable to get at least one runner across the plate. In the circle, Piñon’s two walks in the first inning were the only Southern Mississippi runners to reach base Sunday. In the first two games, 13 Golden Eagle batters reached base and two scored. “Right now it’s just trying to feel what we have and what their best roles will be,” Candrea said. “It could be changing from weekend to weekend, but as the season goes on I’m sure we’ll get a little more established.” — Follow Luke Della @LukeDella