UA routs Cal; preps for Big 12 showdown

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat UA senior center Marte Alexander goes up for a shot over a California defender in the match last night in McKale Center. Arizona overpowered the Golden Bears 81-44.

Barnes, a senior who has led the Wildcats in scoring the last four games, scored 22 points. She hit seven of her 10 shot attempts to go along with 8 for 13 shooting from the free-throw line.

The No. 10 Wildcats began the game with an 11-0 run in front of the 1,850 in attendance. Cal never recovered and Arizona took a 42-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Senior Mikko Giordano added 12 points and six rebounds and senior Marte Alexander had 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

At 7-2, UA is tied for second in the Pacific 10 Conference with Oregon, who beat Oregon State, 80-57, last night. Stanford remains in first place at 8-1 after beating Arizona State, 81-54, in Tempe.

Eight Wildcats managed to log over 20 minutes while five broke double figures in points.

"It was a team effort all around," sophomore guard Lisa Griffith said.

Griffith hit a couple of early three-pointers to get the Wildcats rolling and finished with 11 points and three assists.

The Wildcats used their pressure defense to force the Golden Bears into 22 turnovers and an abysmal 28 percent shooting percentage.

Cal freshman point guard Masa Radovic, who led the Golden Bears in scoring at 11.8 points a game entering the contest, was held to six points on 2 for 6 shooting. She was harassed into four turnovers and did not have an assist.

Griffith said it felt good to blowout a team after losing large leads against Oregon and Oregon State last weekend.

"We feel like we should be doing it more," she said. "It lets us know we still have it in us."

Alexander continued her resurgence after a brief slump with aggressive rebounding and physical defense, holding Cal center Jennie Leander to only three field goal attempts. Leander finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

"I'm just trying to play better than I have been playing," Alexander said. "We wanted to get a victory and go on to Kansas playing strong."

UA plays Kansas tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. in Lubbock, Texas, as part of the Pac-10/ Big 12 Challenge. Stanford plays Texas Tech in the second game of the double header.

Both games will be televised on ESPN2.

In head-to-head competition so far this season, the Pac-10 holds a 7-1 record against Big 12 teams. Arizona has three of those seven wins, having already beaten Texas A&M, Baylor and Nebraska.

"It's kind of like a (NCAA) tournament game," Griffith said, adding that it was nice to get away from conference teams.

Although Kansas (13-4, 5-3 Big 12) is not ranked, UA players are expecting a tough game.

"Kansas is a very good team," Giordano said. "It's going to be a great game. We're just trying to go out there to win because we can't afford to lose any more games. We're going to have to come ready to play."

The Jayhawks' main strength is in the post. Six players stand taller than six feet.

"I'm sure we'll be tested on Saturday," Alexander said. "We need to take care of business. We need to keep up our intensity for 40 minutes."

No. 10 ARIZONA 81, CALIFORNIA 44

CALIFORNIA (5-13)

Radovic 2-6 2-2 6, Lacey 1-4 2-2 4, Leander 2-3 4-6 8, Smith 1-5 0-0 2, Bowie 2-10 2-2 6, Corley 0-4 0-0 0, Johnson 5-11 0-0 11, Folsom 0-2 0-0 0, Churchill 0-1 0-0 0, Ashbaugh 3-9 1-3 7, Inoue 0-3 0-0 0. totals 16-58 11-15 44.

ARIZONA (13-4)

Crank 1-6 0-0 2, Barnes 7-10 8-13 22, Alexander 3-7 4-5 10, Griffith 4-9 0-0 11, Bristol 3-6 2-4 9, Hambrick 0-1 0-0 0, Willis 4-7 1-2 10, Phoenix 0-1 0-0 0, Minter 2-4 0-0 4, Giordano 3-5 5-6 12, Paige 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 27-57 21-32 81.

Halftime-Arizona 42, California 18. 3-Point goals-California 1-8 (Johnson 1-2, Corley 0-1, Radovic 0-1, Smith 0-2, Bowie 0-2), Arizona 6-16 (Griffith 3-7, Willis 1-1, Giordano 1-1, Bristol 1-2, Phoenix 0-1, Minter 0-1, Crank 0-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-California 37 (Ashbaugh 8), Arizona 42 (Alexander 9). Assists-California 5 (Smith 2), Arizona 14 (Crank, Griffith 3). Total fouls-California 22, Arizona 16.

A-1,850.