Oregon State Bests Arizona, 64-50

Arizona women’s basketball (4-17, 0-10) fell to Oregon State (13-9, 5-5), 64-50 on Sunday at McKale Center.

Senior Kama Griffitts and freshman Breanna Workman both led the Wildcats with 11 points each.

Griffitts shot 3-of-5 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Workman visited the free-throw line 10 times, earning seven of her points there.

With the double-digit scoring, Griffitts’ marked her 11th game in double figures this season and Workman posted her sixth.

All seven Arizona players scored.

Senior Carissa Crutchfield dished out five assists for her seventh game with five or more assists.

“It’s difficult because anytime you go through a tough stretch like this in basketball or in life there is added pressure on you to do better,” Arizona Head Coach Niya Butts said. “That’s why adversity is a great separator. You either answer the adversity or you fold and give up, and those are not options.  We are going to keep grinding and hopefully good things will happen.”

Freshman Sydney Wiese and sophomore Deven Hunter led the Beavers with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

“Coach Butts just tells us to keep working,” Griffitts said. “She fights and works really hard at what she does. We need to come in and work as hard as she does and stay on the same page. We just need to work together as a team and strive for the win. We’re only going to win if we play two good halves. We need to put it all together.”

Arizona will have a quick turnaround to take on No. 15 in Tempe, Ariz. on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks.

For complete results and continued coverage of Arizona women’s basketball, visit ArizonaWildcats.com, or follow on Twitter @ArizonaWBBall.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH NIYA BUTTS

Opening Statement:

“I want give credit for Oregon State for coming in here, taking care of business and doing the things that they needed to do to get the win. We have to play better, and refocus.”

On Kama being able to play:

“She was a bit sore earlier this morning, but she toughed it out and was able to come in there and give us some minutes.”

On the game:

“We are not playing very smart right now and we have to get it worked out as quickly as we can. No one likes to be in a situation where they are losing and not playing well and I have confidence that they are going to do what they need to do individually while we do what we need to do as a staff. We are going to come together as a team.”

“It’s difficult because anytime you go through a tough stretch like this in basketball or in life there is added pressure on you to do better. That’s why adversity is a great separator. You either answer the adversity or you fold and give up, and those are not options.  We are going to keep grinding and hopefully good things will happen.”

On not making any three-pointers:

“We wanted to get the ball in the paint and get to the foul line. We got there 22 times today which is what we wanted to do, but we didn't execute and make the shots that we needed to.”

On typical slow starts:

“We have to get a better start. We can’t have stretches where we have six turnovers in a row. “

On ASU:

“Tomorrow is our only day to practice before ASU so there isn't much we can in terms of being able to go up and down the court a lot. This next game is going to be very physical. Everybody is playing a lot of minutes and we have to be able to manage that, which is difficult when there is so much stuff you want and need to do. However, ASU has the same amount of days between their last game as we do, a few more bodies, but never the less they had a game today too. We just have to focus, do what we need to do and make sure we utilize film.”

On playing ASU twice this week:

“We will dissect that film just as we do all the other ones. Playing that same opponent in the same week helps preparation. You can take a look at your first game and dissect it fully. With the game being on Tuesday and another on Sunday that gives you a little time in between.”

Senior Guard Kama Griffitts

On what the team needs to do…

“Coach Butts just tells us to keep working. She fights and works really hard at what she does. We need to come in and work as hard as she does and stay on the same page. We just need to work together as a team and strive for the win. We’re only going to win if we play two good halves. We need to put it all together.”

On the upcoming week…

“We need to have a good mindset and play within ourselves. It’ll be different to only have one day off, but we can’t worry about that.”

Freshman Forward Breanna Workman

On the most frustrating part of the past few games…

“I think the most frustrating thing is not being able to get over the hump. We try to push, and we just can’t get over the hump, so the game just gets away from us.”

On the last time they played two good halves…

“When we played Texas Tech, we played as a team. Everyone played together.”