Jake Lacey/Arizona Daily Wildcat On the rebound: After a road trip that featured highs (a win over California) and lows (a loss at Washington State), the Arizona women's basketball team hopes to use the home crowd to its advantage against USC tonight in McKale Center.

Collision in practice puts guard Arnold out of commission against Women of Troy

The injury bug that has been plaguing the Arizona women's basketball team all season struck again Wednesday afternoon.

Running for a loose ball in practice yesterday at Bear Down Gym, sophomore guard Jessica Arnold collided with a teammate, hit her head against a brick wall and didn't return to practice for a good amount of time.

When she did return to practice for a full-speed drill, Arnold took herself out a short time later and laid on the floor for the remainder of the session.

Arizona women's basketball information director Hope Nsiah-Kumi said Arnold "probably won't play" tonight when the Arizona women's basketball teams hosts Southern California at 7 in McKale Center.

Arnold adds herself to a list of injured Wildcats that includes juniors Shannon Hobson, a center, and Linda Pace, a guard, both of whom are out for the year with season-ending injuries.

Freshman forward Amina Njonkou has recently been sidelined again with a foot injury, including last Saturday's game at Washington State, where sophomore forward Ché Oh was expected to pick up some slack. She did - until she too went down, suffering her second concussion in as many weeks.

"We need to get the job done, especially when it comes to the inside game," senior forward Anna Chappell said. "We've definitely been struggling with it the last couple of weeks."

Njonkou remains out for tonight's game against USC, and Oh is out indefinitely.

"We're gonna be small without Ché Oh this weekend," said junior guard Joy Hollingsworth, adding that the slack must be picked up by the Wildcat guards.

"They're obviously great players for us, we just can't focus on losing them," Arnold said before her injury. "We just have to focus on what we can do and what we have right now."

With the injuries mounting - head coach Joan Bonvicini is left with three players on the bench - the task of rebounding seemingly grows harder by the minute.

"The big thing for us is we've got to really rebound and do a better job than we did when we played them up there," Bonvicini said of Jan. 8's 77-60 loss to the Women of Troy in Los Angeles.

Early-season shooting woes forced the Wildcats to spend a good amount of time on that facet of their game, and over the past three games the work is starting to pay dividends on the court. Over that period, Arizona has been shooting 44 percent from the field - improving its season percentage to 40 percent - while knocking down a vastly improved 39 percent from behind the arc.

"Shooting's a big key," Bonvicini said. "I think at times, we're getting better. I think our shot selection is getting better."

After scoring only a combined 28 points off the bench in their road losses to the Washington schools last week, the Wildcats added yet another focal point.

"We're doing a better job scoring, but we've got to get some good scoring from our bench," Bonvicini said. "I think we're getting to be a little bit better, more comfortable in our roles.

"Our guards are playing better as a group, but we need everyone on this team to really step up."

A long road trip to Washington turned into an even longer trip last week when Arizona's flight home was cancelled, forcing the team to stay an extra day. The team didn't actually touch down in Tucson until their game with the Cougars had been over for a good 20 hours.

Because of the ordeal, the Wildcats are content just to be home for their two-game set with the Los Angeles schools.

"We're just happy to be back here," Bonvicini said. "I think (the players) are more comfortable in their setting. Sleeping in their own beds and having hometown fans, that makes a big difference."

As if on cue, Hollingsworth backed her coach up.

"We got the band. They're going to play our favorite songs," she said with a smile. "It's just going to be fun and have that atmosphere and the fans.

"I think we play a lot more confident (at home)," she continued, changing to a more serious tone. "We've seen that in the (Jan. 14) win over Oregon, (when) we were just very confident because of the fans.

"All their energy poured into us, and we obviously showed it on the court."

Notes
Senior guard Natalie Jones scored the 1,000th point of her career with 2:02 left in the Washington State game, which turned out to be her 86th straight start ... Oh is sporting a black eye and a bump on the head from the two collisions that resulted in her concussions ... Njonkou remains in a foot brace ... Because of injuries, Monday's practice featured just eight roster players.