2018–19 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team

The 2018–19 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team represented University of Arizona during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats, led by third-year head coach Adia Barnes, played their home games at the McKale Center and were members of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season of 24–13, 7–11 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie for sixth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 women's tournament where they lost to Oregon. They received an at-large bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament, where they advanced to the finals and defeated Northwestern for the championship.

2018–19 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball
WNIT, Champions
Conference	Pac-12 Conference
Record	24–13 (7–11 Pac-12)
Head coach	Adia Barnes (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Sunny Smallwood Salvo Coppa Kelly Rae Finley
Home arena	McKale Center

2018–19 Pac-12 Conference women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 7 Oregon	16	–	2		.889			33	–	5		.868
No. 6 Stanford †	15	–	3		.833			31	–	5		.861
No. 11 Oregon State	14	–	4		.778			26	–	8		.765
No. 20 UCLA	12	–	6		.667			22	–	13		.629
No. 22 Arizona State	10	–	7		.588			22	–	11		.667
Utah	9	–	9		.500			20	–	10		.667
California	9	–	9		.500			20	–	13		.606
Arizona	7	–	11		.389			24	–	13		.649
USC	7	–	11		.389			17	–	13		.567
Washington State	4	–	14		.222			9	–	21		.300
Washington	2	–	15		.118			11	–	21		.344
Colorado	2	–	16		.111			12	–	18		.400
† 2019 Pac-12 Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

They finished the season 6–24, 2–16 in Pac-12 play to finish in eleventh place. They lost in the first round of the Pac-12 women's basketball tournament to Arizona State.

Off-season

Departures

Name	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Kat Wright	F	6'0"	RS Senior	Woodland Hills, CA	Graduated
JaLea Bennett	F	6'0"	Senior	Grand Prairie, TX	Graduated
Sammy Fatkin	G	6'0"	Freshman	Snohomish, WA	Elected to transfer to Montana

Incoming transfers

Name	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Notes

Recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Cate Reese F	Cypress, TX	Cypress Woods HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 98
Semaj Smith PG	Long Beach, CA	St. Anthony HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 96
Valeria Trucco F/C	Turin, Italy	Fixi Piramis Torino (ITA)	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 90
Shalyse Smith G/F	Tacoma, WA	Bellarmine Prep	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 90
Bryce Nixon PG	Phoenix, AZ	Arcadia HS	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 89
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2018 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.

Roster

2018–19 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 1 Shalyse Smith 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fr Bellarmine Prep Tacoma, WA G 2 Aari McDonald 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) RS So Brookside Christian HS/Washington Fresno, CA G 4 Lucia Alonso 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Jr Aron Leon Cuna Del Parlamentarismo León, Spain G 10 Tee Tee Starks 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) RS So Hopkins HS/Iowa State Brooklyn Park, MN F 14 Sam Thomas 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) So Centennial HS Bloomfield Hills, MI F 20 Dominique McBryde 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) RS Jr Bedford North Lawrence HS/Purdue Bedford, IN F 21 Destiny Graham 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Sr Eastside College Prep East Palo Alto, CA G 22 Lindsey Malecha (W) 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sr Hill-Murray HS Mahtomedi, MN G 24 Bryce Nixon 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Arcadia HS Phoenix, AZ F 25 Cate Reese 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Fr Cypress HS Cypress, TX G 32 Kiana Barkhoff 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) So Palm Harbor University HS Kitzingen, Germany C 34 Semaj Smith 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Fr St. Anthony HS Long Beach, CA F/C — Valeria Trucco 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Fr Fixi Piramis Torino (ITA) Torino, ITL	Head coach Adia Barnes (Arizona) Assistant coach(es) Sunny Smallwood (Boise State) Salvo Coppa (IULM) Morgan Valley (Washington) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
10/29/2018* 6:30 pm		Eastern New Mexico	W 88–31		McKale Center (1,303) Tucson, AZ
11/05/2018* 6:30 pm		Western New Mexico	W 78–41		McKale Center (1,149) Tucson, AZ
Non-conference regular season
11/09/2018* 6:30 pm		Idaho State	W 71–46	1–0	McKale Center (1,226) Tucson, AZ
11/13/2018* 6:30 pm		Loyola Marymount	L 64–66	1–1	McKale Center (852) Tucson, AZ
11/16/2018* 3:00 pm		vs. Seattle Bank of Hawaii Classic	W 84–54	2–1	Stan Sheriff Center  Honolulu, HI
11/18/2018* 3:00 pm		vs. Portland Bank of Hawaii Classic	W 92–70	3–1	Stan Sheriff Center  Honolulu, HI
11/23/2018* 6:30 pm		South Carolina State	W 73–32	4–1	McKale Center (1,247) Tucson, AZ
11/27/2018* 6:30 pm		Incarnate Word	W 84–42	5–1	McKale Center (1,059) Tucson, AZ
12/02/2018* 2:00 pm		at San Diego State	W 69–60	6–1	Viejas Arena (1,900) San Diego, CA
12/05/2018* 11:00 am		Montana	W 100–51	7–1	McKale Center (4,703) Tucson, AZ
12/09/2018* 3:00 pm		at Long Beach State	W 70–43	8–1	Walter Pyramid (616) Long Beach, CA
12/17/2018* 6:30 pm		UTEP	W 62–40	9–1	McKale Center (1,076) Tucson, AZ
12/21/2018* 6:30 pm		Northern Arizona	W 71–47	10–1	McKale Center (1,866) Tucson, AZ
Pac-12 regular season
12/30/2018 5:00 pm, P12N		No. 17 Arizona State	W 51–39	11–1 (1–0)	McKale Center (5,006) Tucson, AZ
01/04/2019 7:00 pm		at Colorado	W 69–67	12–1 (2–0)	CU Events Center (1,673) Boulder, CO
01/06/2019 12:00 pm, P12N		at Utah	L 64–80	12–2 (2–1)	Jon M. Huntsman Center (2,089) Salt Lake City, UT
01/11/2019 7:00 pm, P12N		No. 24 California	W 60–55	13–2 (3–1)	McKale Center (2,557) Tucson, AZ
01/13/2019 12:00 pm, P12N		No. 6 Stanford	L 48–78	13–3 (3–2)	McKale Center (2,686) Tucson, AZ
01/18/2019 8:00 pm		at No. 10 Oregon State	L 64–86	13–4 (3–3)	Gill Coliseum (5,061) Corvallis, OR
01/20/2019 1:00 pm, P12N		at No. 5 Oregon	L 60–93	13–5 (3–4)	Matthew Knight Arena (7,062) Eugene, OR
01/25/2019 7:00 pm, P12N		USC	W 71–68	14–5 (4–4)	McKale Center (1,684) Tucson, AZ
01/27/2019 2:00 pm, P12N		UCLA	L 93–98 3OT	14–6 (4–5)	McKale Center (2,327) Tucson, AZ
02/01/2019 6:00 pm, P12N		at No. 21 Arizona State	L 47–60	14–7 (4–6)	Wells Fargo Arena (3,686) Tempe, AZ
02/07/2019 8:00 pm, P12N		at Washington	W 69–59	15–7 (5–6)	Alaska Airlines Arena (1,444) Seattle, WA
02/09/2019 1:00 pm, P12N		at Washington State	L 88–90	15–8 (5–7)	Beasley Coliseum (711) Pullman, WA
02/15/2019 6:00 pm		Utah	W 66–55	16–8 (6–7)	McKale Center (2,002) Tucson, AZ
02/17/2019 12:00 pm, P12N		Colorado	W 63–51	17–8 (7–7)	McKale Center (2,321) Tucson, AZ
02/22/2019 8:00 pm		at Stanford	L 54–56	17–9 (7–8)	Maples Pavilion (3,569) Stanford, CA
02/24/2019 3:00 pm		at California	L 76–82 OT	17–10 (7–9)	Haas Pavilion (2,432) Berkeley, CA
03/01/2019 8:00 pm, P12N		No. 6 Oregon	L 54–83	17–11 (7–10)	McKale Center (2,517) Tucson, AZ
03/03/2019 3:00 pm, P12N		No. 9 Oregon State	L 60–65 2OT	17–12 (7–11)	McKale Center (2,119) Tucson, AZ
Pac-12 Women's Tournament
03/07/2019 3:00 pm, P12N	(8)	vs. (9) USC First Round	W 76–48	18–12	MGM Grand Garden Arena (3,012) Paradise, NV
03/08/2019 3:00 pm, P12N	(8)	vs. (1) No. 6 Oregon Quarterfinals	L 63–77	18–13	MGM Grand Garden Arena (4,531) Paradise, NV
WNIT
03/21/2019* 6:30 pm		Idaho State First Round	W 66–56	19–13	McKale Center (3,265) Tucson, AZ
03/24/2019* 3:00 pm		Pacific Second Round	W 64–48	20–13	McKale Center (3,534) Tucson, AZ
03/28/2019* 6:30 pm		Idaho Third Round	W 68–60	21–13	McKale Center (6,307) Tucson, AZ
03/31/2019* 2:00 pm		Wyoming Quarterfinals	W 67–45	22–13	McKale Center (7,717) Tucson, AZ
04/03/2019* 6:00 pm		TCU Semifinals	W 59–53	23–13	McKale Center (10,135) Tucson, AZ
04/06/2019* 12:00 pm, CBSSN		Northwestern Championship	W 56–42	24–13	McKale Center (14,644) Tucson, AZ
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time.

Rankings

Main article: 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Ranking Movement
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes.

Poll	Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Wk 19	Final
AP									RV		RV									N/A
Coaches									RV	RV	RV									RV

See also

2018–19 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team