SALT LAKE CITY: Players of great times appear at important times.
For BYU women’s basketball, Paisley Johnson Harding was a great first-round Rutgers first-place player in the Cougars.
Arizona’s Aari McDonald was the big player in the second round.
McDonald scored 17 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and four steals to help third-generation Wildcats keep the Cougars, 52-46 Wednesday night at the UTSA Convocation Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Cate Reese scored 12 points and five rebounds for Arizona (18-5), who shot just 34% of the field but forced 15 losses, including 11 steals.
The Wildcats held BYU with a field goal in the final five minutes, 11 seconds.
No team led by more than five in a game marked by defense, including two-time defensive player Pac-12 of the Year McDonald, a finalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.
BYU kept the Wildcats at just 3 points in a 10-minute, 33-second stretch that saved the third and fourth quarters and took a 43-39 lead with 5:03 left in the game.
But McDonald doubled Arizona’s goal-scoring output in that game with a triple, and Sam Thomas drained another three in the absence of 3:43 giving the Wildcats the lead.
BYU’s Tegan Graham reduced the deficit to one with his third triple, but the Cougars never led again.
Shaylee Gonzales scored 16 points and nine rebounds to lead BYU, who scored 13 points, five rebounds and three assists from Graham. Lauren Gustin added 8 points and 11 rebounds for the Cougars (19-6).
This story will be updated.