Cats get defensive with Oregon State

The good news for the OSU women's basketball team: it was 9-of-17 (53 percent) from 3-point range in last night's 77-54 loss to the Wildcats.

The bad news: it was 8-of-36 (22 percent) from 2-point range.

While Arizona gave up the occasional open look from beyond the arc, its defense didn't bend when Oregon State tried to take the ball inside.

"Last week against UCLA (an 87-68 loss), we just didn't play defense," said senior guard Aimee Grzyb. "We've been slacking on defense lately, so we've just been trying really hard in practice."

It showed. Arizona limited OSU to one field goal in the final eight minutes of the first half, holding the Beavers to 20 points in the game's first 20 minutes - the Wildcats' best single-half performance against a conference foe this season.

"Credit Arizona. Their defense was ready to go," said Oregon State head coach Judy Spoelstra. "They attacked the basket really hard."

Arizona limited OSU to eight points in the paint and eight offensive rebounds. The Wildcats pulled down 39 boards to OSU's 33.

"That's how you win games: Play good defense and board," said UA head coach Joan Bonvicini.

Arizona took advantage of 26 Beaver turnovers by scoring 24 fast-break points to Oregon State's two. The Wildcats scored 26 points off OSU turnovers.

"We were very aggressive in the passing lanes," Bonvicini said. "We're going to build on this, and it'll help us get better."

"Our defense really made our offense tonight," said sophomore center Shawntinice Polk. "I think one of the most important things we had was communication on defense. Everybody was doing their job."

Junior 5-foot-6 guard Dee-Dee Wheeler posted five steals and a pair of blocks for Arizona, while Polk grabbed 10 defensive rebounds, blocked four shots and made three steals in 28 minutes.

"She was really focused," Bonvicini said of the 6-foot-5 Polk. "She dominated the game."

"One of the main things we did was increase our talking on defense and increase our intensity on defense," Polk said. "As long as we keep our defense up, that makes us a really hard team to beat.

"I don't think we even worked on offense all week in practice. I think it was just all defense that we did," added Polk. "It definitely paid off."

Bonvicini said her game plan for tomorrow's matchup with Oregon is pretty simple.

"Focus on defense," she said.