CLAIRE C. LAURENCE/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore center Shawntinice Polk shoots a layup over a practice-squad player last night in McKale Center during the Wildcats' annual season-opening Red-Blue intrasquad scrimmage.

Wildcats open season with Red-Blue game

UA women's basketball tipped off its season last night in a not-so-serious manner in McKale Center with its annual Red-Blue game.

The split-squad scrimmage was the first chance for the team's starters to get some true game experience this season. For many newcomers on this young Wildcat squad, it was their first game on Lute and Bobbi Olson Court.

Sophomore Shawntinice Polk may be the leader of this year's Wildcats, but Aimee Grzyb made a case last night that she should not be overlooked.

The senior had a team-high 20 points in a losing effort for the veteran Red team. Grzyb's squad ÷ featuring Polk, Dee Dee Wheeler and Anna Chappell ÷ was dropped by a Blue squad that switched players with the Red halfway through the game.

The Blue team, backed by four men from the practice squad, upended the Red by a score of 76-60.

Polk, last year's Pacific 10 Conference Freshman of the Year, dominated the low post for the Red squad. The sophomore from Hanford, Calif. grabbed nine rebounds to go along with her 14 points.

The highlight of Polk's evening came when she swatted the shots of male practice-squad player Josh Mora of the men's practice squad on three separate occasions ÷ the last landing five rows deep in the stands.

The Wildcat Red squad flashed its speed early in the match as Wheeler and Grzyb went back-to-back on uncontested, breakaway lay-ups.

The offensive firepower was short-lived, however, as the Blue squad built a 10-point lead by halftime. The Blue team continued its dominance throughout the second half, pushing the lead to 24 with five minutes to play.

Katrina Lindner rebounded from a tough first half for team Red to lead the Blue squad in scoring. Lindner, a Glengowrie, Australia native, accumulated all seven of her points in the second half after switching over to the Blue team. The sophomore kicked of all second-half scoring by draining a 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

Grzyb led the Red squad down the stretch, trimming the Blue team's lead to 14.

Grzyb's presence was felt up and down the court ÷ literally. Her rough and tumble style of play had her diving for loose balls, taking and creating fouls and generally getting knocked down all evening.

"I don't want to be all over the floor, but it's definitely a part of my game," Grzyb said.

Scoring more often will be a priority for the senior this season ÷ especially with the departure of last year's senior leaders, Julie Brase and Krista Warren ÷ but isn't the most important aspect of her game.

"I want to score as much as possible, but I will do whatever the team needs me to do," she said.

Grzyb is one of only two seniors returning to this year's Wildcat squad ÷ the other being Jessica Duger. Despite averaging just 2.6 minutes per game in eight games last season, the sharp-shooting Duger will add depth to Arizona's lineup coming off the bench.

Head coach Joan Bonvicini addressed the crowd before the opening tip-off of the game. Bonvicini, entering her 13th year at the helm of UA's women's basketball, thanked the fans in attendance for coming out and vowed to bring a Pac-10 title to Arizona.

Bonvicini boasted that this is the best team she has had in her tenure as Wildcat head coach.

Arizona begins exhibition games next week when it hosts the Latvian Select squad Tuesday and Athletes in Action onNov. 13.

The regular season will tip off on Nov. 22 when the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona travel to Tucson.