The No. 21 Arizona women's basketball team faces one of its biggest games of the season in just its second game when it visits No. 16 UC Santa Barbara tonight at 7.
For UA head coach Joan Bonvicini, Saturday's victory against Northern Arizona was important, but she stressed to her team that the celebration had to be short-lived because of an imposing team in UCSB (2-1, 0-0 Big West Conference).
After the NAU game on Saturday, she talked about the win, but had the Gauchos on her mind.
"Now we're preparing for UCSB," she said. "They draw well and they have a good win streak at home."
UCSB's home winning streak currently stands at 25, second only to current No. 1 and reigning national champion Connecticut, whose streak is at 63.
"They're tall, they're good shooters and they're going to be tough," said sophomore center Shawntinice Polk about the Gauchos. "We need to box out and rebound."
Polk, the tallest Wildcat at 6-foot-5, was referring to UCSB senior center Lindsay Taylor, who stands at 6-foot-8. Taylor is tied for second on the team in scoring with 8.7 points per game.
The Gauchos put in a good showing at the Preseason WNIT, beginning with a convincing 82-44 victory over San Diego. They defeated Utah in a closer game, 52-44, but suffered their worse loss in nearly six years to No. 7 Texas Tech in the semifinals.
Arizona (1-0, 0-0) leads the all-time series with the Gauchos, 6-4. In January 2002 ÷ the last time the teams faced each other ÷ the Wildcats lost, 94-80 in McKale Center, snapping the four-game win streak the Wildcats enjoyed against UCSB.
The UA appears to be healthy just in time for the regular season, thanks to the return of senior guard Aimee Grzyb, who returns from a bone bruise that sidelined her for the final exhibition game against Athletes in Action.
Grzyb showed no signs of the injury and put up 19 points for the Wildcats against NAU, including a stellar 5 of 6 from behind the 3-point line. Junior guard Dee-Dee Wheeler also scored 19 in the NAU game.
Stepping up big in her new starting role was sophomore forward CoCoa Sanford, who matched the starting guards with 19 points, a career high.
The only category in which Arizona struggled against NAU was rebounding, which could prove to be the difference against UCSB today. Arizona was beaten on the boards by the Lumberjacks, 36-29.
UCSB forward Kristen Mann notched 12 rebounds against Texas Tech. Her team pulled down a total of 44.
"I'm pretty pleased with everything," Bonvicini said after the NAU game. "But we need to board a lot better."