Here's a clichŽ for you.

Every season has its ups and downs. For any women's basketball team in the country except Connecticut, the downs end up in losses.

To begin the season, UA head coach Joan Bonvicini said she expected a lot from her team. So after losing to No. 3 LSU in the season opener, Bonvicini was down.

The players were disappointed. Hanging with the third-ranked team in the country was not enough. It gave the team some confidence, but the season started at 0-1.

Down.

For the next few weeks, Bonvicini's team went to work proving that it could not only compete, but beat ranked teams. Wins and eventually rankings followed.

Up.

It was far from a steady rise. Over the last two months, Arizona was never ranked higher than 18, but stayed in the top 25 until the team's time in the rankings succumbed to a long agonizing road trip.

Down.

Last night Arizona took on a red-hot Washington team (winners of eight of its last nine), and rather than snatch defeat from the grasp of victory like it did in Washington, put together an impressive defensive performance and routed the Huskies.

Up.

This is more than just the typical up though.

The Wildcats knew they had to defend Giuliana Mendiola.

Check.

Sure. Mendiola scored 22 points, but she shot less than .500 from the floor, and most of her points came off drives.

Mendiola was not able to get her outside shot going, so the Huskies couldn't spread the Wildcats and get the ball inside to compliment the UW guards.

Center Andrea Lalum and forward Emily Autrey were averaging a combined 22.7 points per game.

Last night?

Ten.

As the Wildcats know, the supporting cast is just as important as the star.

Last night, the load was on Mendiola and guard Loree Payne. Those two scored 72 percent of the team's points.

It is extremely difficult for one or two players to beat a team, especially when the opposition is shooting above 50 percent (Arizona shot 51.6 percent for the game).

Shooting wasn't the only facet of the game the Wildcats dominated. Arizona nearly monopolized the box score by recording four more steals, nine more assists, two fewer turnovers, and committed eight fewer fouls.

The one weakness Arizona had was on the glass, but with the Wildcats playing such stingy defense, a ö2 rebounding margin made no difference.

It might in practice later on, but for now Arizona is on another upswing. At just the right time.

This win over a ranked opponent is the beginning of the regular season-ending stretch in which Arizona will play four of its last six games at home before the conference tournament.

It's coming together.

Arizona did what it had to do to stay close to the conference leaders while on the road, now it's payback time against all the teams that cut down the Wildcats away from McKale.

Bonvicini's team avenged a loss at Washington, and if this team can defend like it did last night, Stanford and Arizona State are in trouble.

Arizona is on the way up again, and the sky is the limit.