2022–23 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team

2022–23 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball
2022–23 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball
NCAA tournament, Second Round
Conference	Pac-12 Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 25
Record	22–10 (11–7 Pac-12)
Head coach	Adia Barnes (7th season);
Assistant coaches	Ashley Davis (2nd season); Salvo Coppa (7th season); Erin Grant (2nd season);
Home arena	McKale Center
	Seasons ← 2021–22 2023–24 →

The 2022–23 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team represented the University of Arizona during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats were led by seventh-year head coach Adia Barnes. This was the Wildcats' 49th season at the on-campus McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona and 44th season as a member of the Pac-12 Conference.

2022–23 Pac-12 Conference women's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 8 Utah	15	–	3	.833	27	–	5	.844
No. 5 Stanford	15	–	3	.833	29	–	6	.829
No. 21 Colorado	13	–	5	.722	25	–	9	.735
No. 14 UCLA	11	–	7	.611	27	–	10	.730
No. 25 Arizona	11	–	7	.611	22	–	10	.688
USC	11	–	7	.611	21	–	10	.677
No. 23 Washington State †	9	–	9	.500	23	–	11	.676
Oregon	7	–	11	.389	20	–	15	.571
Washington	7	–	11	.389	19	–	15	.559
California	4	–	14	.222	13	–	17	.433
Oregon State	4	–	14	.222	13	–	18	.419
Arizona State	1	–	17	.056	8	–	20	.286

† 2023 Pac-12 Tournament winner As of December 19, 2024 Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2021–22 season with a record of 21–8, 10–6 in Pac-12 play. The Wildcats were invited to the 2022 NCAA tournament where they defeated UNLV in the first round before losing to North Carolina in the second round.

Offseason

Departures

Arizona Wildcats Departures
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Notes
Sam Thomas	14	F	6'0	Graduate Student	Bloomfield Hills, MI	Completed college eligibility
Ariyah Copeland	22	F	6'3	Graduate Student	Columbus, GA	Completed college eligibility
Reference:

Outgoing Transfers

Arizona Outcoming Transfers
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	New School
Anna Gret Asi	0	G	5'8	Freshman	Tartu, Estonia	Transferred to Oklahoma State
Koi Love	5	F	6'0	Junior	Orlando, FL	Transferred to USC
Derin Erdogan	10	G	5'6	Sophomore	Istanbul, Turkey	Transferred to Northeastern
Aaronette Vonleh	21	C	6'3	Freshman	West Linn, OR	Transferred to Colorado
Gisela Sanchez	30	F	6'3	Freshman	Barcelona, Spain	Transferred to Kansas State
Semaj Smith	34	C	6'6	Senior	Long Beach, CA	Transferred to San Jose State
Bendu Yeaney	23	G	5'10	Senior	Portland, OR	Transferred to Oregon State
Taylor Chavez	3	G	5'10	Senior	Surprise, AZ	TBD
Reference:

Acquisitions

Incoming Transfers

Arizona Incoming Transfers
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School	Years Remaining
Lauren Fields	23	G	5'9	Junior	Shawnee, OK	Oklahoma State	1
Esmery Martínez	12	F	6'2	Junior	Hato Mayor del Ray, DR	West Virginia	1
Jade Loville	30	F/G	5'11	Graduate Student	Scottsdale, AZ	Arizona State	1
Reference:

2022 recruiting class

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Maya Nnaji F	Lakeville, MN	Hopkins High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	N/A	May 10, 2021
Maya Nnaji F	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97
Paris Clark G	Mount Vernon, NY	Long Island Lutheran High School	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	N/A	Dec 13, 2021
Paris Clark G	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 96
Kailyn Gilbert G	Tampa, FL	Seffner Christian Academy	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	N/A	Jan 6, 2021
Kailyn Gilbert G	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 95
Lemyah Hylton G	London, ON	Southwest Academy Girls Prep	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	N/A	Oct 16, 2021
Lemyah Hylton G	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 91
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: "2022 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021. "2022 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved December 13, 2021.

2023 recruiting class

College recruiting information (2023)
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Breya Cunningham POST	Chula Vista, CA	La Jolla Country Day School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	N/A	Jun 26, 2022
Breya Cunningham POST	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97
Montaya Dew F	Las Vegas, NV	Centennial High School	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	N/A	Dec 23, 2021
Montaya Dew F	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97
Jada Williams PG	Kansas City, MO	La Jolla Country Day School (CA)	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	N/A	Aug 1, 2022
Jada Williams PG	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 96
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: "2023 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022. "2023 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 1, 2022.

Preseason

Preseason rankings

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
Pac-12 media poll (Coaches)
1	Stanford	121 (11)
2	Oregon	101
3	Arizona	100
4	UCLA	91
5	Utah	84 (1)
6	Oregon State	62
7	Washington State	61
8	Colorado	55
9	USC	50
10	Washington	28
11	California	21
12	Arizona State	18

Source:^[1]

Preseason All-conference teams

Award	Player	Position	Year
Preseason All Pac-12 team	Cate Reese	F	GS
	Jade Loville	F/G
	Shaina Pellington	F

Source:^[2]

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year	Source
Ann Meyers Drysdale Award	Jade Loville	SG	GS	^[3]
Katrina McClain Award	Cate Reese	PF	GS	^[4]
Katrina McClain Award	Esmery Martínez	PF	Sr.	^[4]
Naismith Trophy	Jade Loville	SG	GS	^[5]
Naismith Trophy	Cate Reese	PF		^[5]
Wooden Award	Cate Reese	PF		^[6]

Roster

Source:^[7]

2022–23 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Shaina Pellington	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	GS	Dunabarton	Pickering, ON
G	4	Madison Conner	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	So	AZ Compass Prep	Chandler, AZ
G	10	Lemyah Hylton	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	Fr	Southwest Academy Girls Prep	London, ON
F	12	Esmery Martínez	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Sr	Hamilton Heights Christian Academy	Hato Mayor del Rey, DR
G	13	Helena Pueyo	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Sr	Palma de Mallorca, Spain
G	15	Kailyn Gilbert	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Fr	Seffner Christian Academy	Tampa, FL
G	22	Paris Clark	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Fr	Long Island Lutheran	Mount Vernon, NY
G	23	Lauren Fields	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Sr	Shawnee	Shawnee, OK
F	25	Cate Reese	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	GS	Cypress	Cypress, TX
G/F	30	Jade Loville	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	GS	Skyline	Scottsdale, AZ
F	32	Lauren Ware	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Jr	Century	Bismarck, ND
F	34	Maya Nnaji	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Fr	Hopkins	St. Louis Park, MN

Head coach

Adia Barnes (Arizona)

Assistant coach(es)

Ashley Davis (TCU)
Salvo Coppa (IULM)
Erin Grant (Texas Tech)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: May 1, 2022

Notes
- Junior Lauren Ware to miss 22–23 season with a knee injury.^[8]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
October 27, 2022* 6:00 p.m.	No. 19	West Texas A&M	W 86–63	—-	20 – Loville	12 – Martinez	6 – Pellington	McKale Center (2,763) Tucson, AZ
November 2, 2022* 6:00 p.m.	No. 19	Cal State Los Angeles	W 104–46		26 – Lovelle	12 – Martinez	7 – Pueyo	McKale Center (6,430) Tucson, AZ
Non-conference regular season
November 10, 2022* 6:30 pm	No. 19	Northern Arizona	W 113–56	1–0	20 – Martinez	15 – Martinez	7 – Pellington	McKale Center (6,809) Tucson, AZ
November 13, 2022* 5:00 pm	No. 19	Cal State Northridge	W 87–47	2–0	16 – Gilbert	5 – Martinez	3 – Pueyo	McKale Center (6,653) Tucson, AZ
November 18, 2022* 6:30 pm	No. 18	Loyola Marymount	W 87–51	3–0	19 – Pellington	11 – Martinez	4 – Tied	McKale Center (7,206) Tucson, AZ
November 20, 2022* 2:00 pm	No. 18	Long Beach State	W 86–64	4–0	19 – Martinez	9 – Tied	4 – Tied	McKale Center (6,898) Tucson, AZ
November 25, 2022* 5:00 pm	No. 15	vs. Cal Baptist USD Thanksgiving Classic	W 81–63	5–0	25 – Gilbert	10 – Martinez	3 – Tied	Jenny Craig Pavilion (149) San Diego, CA
November 26, 2022* 5:00 pm	No. 15	at San Diego USD Thanksgiving Classic	W 86–60	6–0	22 – Pueyo	9 – Martinez	4 – Pueyo	Jenny Craig Pavilion San Diego, CA
December 4, 2022* 1:00 p.m.	No. 14	at New Mexico	W 77–60	7–0	27 – Loville	8 – Martinez	9 – Pueyo	The Pit (6,087) Albuquerque, NM
December 8, 2022* 6:30 p.m., P12N	No. 12	Kansas	L 50–77	7–1	14 – Reese	8 – Reese	2 – Tied	McKale Center (7,381) Tucson, AZ
December 14, 2022* 6:30 p.m., P12N	No. 20	Texas Southern Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series	W 89–55	8–1	20 – Reese	12 – Martinez	4 – Pueyo	McKale Center (6,577) Tucson, AZ
December 18, 2022* 5:30 p.m., ESPN2	No. 20	vs. No. 18 Baylor Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge	W 75–54	9–1	18 – Pellington	15 – Martinez	8 – Pellington	American Airlines Center Dallas, TX
December 21, 2022* 2:00 pm, ESPN+	No. 18	at UT Arlington	W 78–59	10–1	13 – Martinez	9 – Tied	4 – Gilbert	College Park Center (1,109) Arlington, TX
Pac-12 regular season
December 29, 2022 6:00 p.m., P12N	No. 18	Arizona State	W 84–66	11–1 (1–0)	21 – Martinez	10 – Martinez	4 – Tied	McKale Center (9,495) Tucson, AZ
December 31, 2022 8:00 p.m., P12N	No. 18	at California	W 63–56	12–1 (2-0)	14 – Reese	7 – Reese	4 – Pellington	Haas Pavilion (605) Berkeley, CA
January 2, 2023 12:30 p.m., P12N	No. 15	at No. 2 Stanford	L 57–73	12–2 (2–1)	12 – Loville	7 – Pueyo	3 – Pellington	Maples Pavilion (3,824) Stanford, CA
January 6, 2023 8:00 p.m., P12N	No. 15	Oregon State	W 72–69	13–2 (3–1)	16 – Reese	8 – Martinez	6 – Tied	McKale Center (7,182) Tucson, AZ
January 8, 2023 5:00 p.m., ESPN2	No. 15	No. 18 Oregon	W 79–71	14–2 (4–1)	16 – Conner	6 – Tied	6 – Pellington	McKale Center (7,963) Tucson, AZ
January 13, 2023 7:00 p.m., P12N	No. 14	at Colorado	L 65–72	14–3 (4–2)	14 – Reese	9 – Reese	3 – Tied	CU Events Center (1,974) Boulder, CO
January 15, 2023 12:00 p.m., P12N	No. 14	at No. 10 Utah	L 79–80	14–4 (4–3)	25 – Reese	10 – Reese	4 – Fields	Jon M. Huntsman Center (2,915) Salt Lake City, UT
January 22, 2023 3:00 p.m., P12N	No. 19	at Arizona State	W 80–67	15–4 (5–3)	16 – Conner	15 – Martinez	4 – Pueyo	Desert Financial Arena (3,508) Tempe, AZ
January 27, 2023 7:00 p.m., P12N	No. 19	Washington	W 61–54	16–4 (6–3)	15 – Reese	12 – Martinez	5 – Pellington	McKale Center (7,884) Tucson, AZ
January 29, 2023 12:00 p.m., P12N	No. 19	Washington State	L 59–70	16–5 (6–4)	14 – Martinez	7 – Reese	4 – Pueyo	McKale Center (7,494) Tucson, AZ
February 3, 2023 9:00 p.m., P12N	No. 22	at No. 14 UCLA	W 71–66 ^OT	17–5 (7–4)	21 – Pellington	13 – Martinez	3 – Tied	Pauley Pavilion (3,482) Los Angeles, CA
February 5, 2023 1:00 p.m., P12N	No. 22	at USC	W 81–75 ^2OT	18–5 (8–4)	33 – Reese	8 – Tied	7 – Pellington	Galen Center (1,356) Los Angeles, CA
February 9, 2023 7:30 p.m., ESPN	No. 17	No. 6 Stanford	L 60–84	18–6 (8–5)	10 – Tied	6 – Martinez	4 – Clark	McKale Center (9,868) Tucson, AZ
February 12, 2023 12:00 p.m., P12N	No. 17	California	W 80–57	19–6 (9–5)	24 – Pellington	15 – Martinez	7 – Martinez	McKale Center (7,268) Tucson, AZ
February 17, 2023 7:00 p.m., P12N	No. 18	No. 4 Utah	W 82–72	20–6 (10–5)	35 – Pellington	8 – Pellington	2 – Tied	McKale Center (8,238) Tucson, AZ
February 19, 2023 12:00 p.m., P12N	No. 18	No. 21 Colorado	W 61–42	21–6 (11–5)	19 – Pellington	7 – Martinez	5 – Pellington	McKale Center (8,267) Tucson, AZ
February 23, 2023 8:00 p.m., P12N	No. 14	at Oregon	L 59–73	21–7 (11–6)	19 – Reese	10 – Clark	2 – Tied	Matthew Knight Arena (6,173) Eugene, OR
February 25, 2023 1:00 p.m., P12N	No. 14	at Oregon State	L 70–78	21–8 (11–7)	16 – Martinez	8 – Martinez	7 – Pellington	Gill Coliseum (4,357) Corvallis, OR
Pac-12 Women's Tournament
March 2, 2023 1:00 p.m., P12N	(4) No. 21	vs. (5) No. 19 UCLA Quarterfinals	L 59–73	21–9	10 – Tied	9 – Reese	3 – Tied	Michelob Ultra Arena (4,245) Paradise, NV
NCAA Women's Tournament
March 17, 2023 9:00 a.m., ESPN	(7 G1) No. 25	vs. (10 G1) West Virginia First round	W 75–62	22–9	25 – Reese	12 – Martinez	4 – Pellington	Xfinity Center College Park, MD
March 19, 2023* 2:30 p.m., ESPN	(7 G1) No. 25	at (2 G1) No. 7 Maryland Second round	L 64–77	22–10	19 – Reese	13 – Martinez	3 – Martinez	Xfinity Center (6,622) College Park, MD
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. G1=Greenville 1. All times are in Mountain Time.

Source:^[9]

Awards and honors

Weekly honors
Recipient (Position)	Award (Pac-12 Conference)	Stats (PPG/RPG/APG)	Week	Date Awarded	Ref.
Kaitlyn Gilbert (G)	Freshman Player of the Week	17.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.5 SPG	Week 4	November 28, 2022

Postseason

Conference honors
Recipient (Position)	Award (Pac-12 Conference)	Stats (PPG/RPG/APG)	Ref.
Shaina Pellington (G)	Co-Most Improved Player Of The Year	13.4 PPG/3.1 RPG/3.7 APG/1.9 SPG	^[10]
	All Pac-12 First Team
	All Pac-12 Defensive Team
Cate Reese (F)	All Pac-12 First Team	23.8 PPG/5.8 RPG/1.0 APG
Helena Pueyo (G)	All Pac-12 Defensive Team	5.6 PPG/3.0 RPG/2.3 SPG

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final
AP	19	18	15	14	12	20	18	18	15	14	19	19	22	17	18	14	21	24	25	Not released
Coaches	19	18	14	13	12	17	16	15	13	10	15	14	20	15	18	14	20	22	23	RV

Media coverage

Radio

ESPN Tucson - 1490 AM & 104.09 FM (ESPN Radio) and Nationwide - Dish Network, Sirius XM, Varsity Network and iHeartRadio)
KCUB 1290 AM – Football Radio Show – (Tucson, AZ)
KHYT – 107.5 FM (Tucson, AZ)
KTKT 990 AM – La Hora de Los Gatos (Spanish) – (Tucson, AZ)
KGME 910 AM – (IMG Sports Network) – (Phoenix, AZ)
KTAN 1420 AM – (Sierra Vista, AZ)
KDAP 96.5 FM (Douglas, Arizona)
KWRQ 102.3 FM – (Safford, AZ/Thatcher, AZ)
KIKO 1340 AM – (Globe, AZ)
KVWM 970 AM – (Show Low, AZ/Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ)
XENY 760 – (Nogales, Sonora) (Spanish)
KTZR (1450 AM) - (FoxSports 1450) - (Tucson, AZ)

TV

CBS Family – KOLD (CBS), CBSN
ABC/ESPN Family – KGUN (ABC), ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+,
FOX Family – KMSB (FOX), FOX/FS1, FSN
Pac-12 Network (Pac-12 Arizona)
NBC Family – KVOA, NBC Sports, NBCSN
PBS - KUAT
Univision - KUVE (Spanish)
Telemundo - KHRR (Spanish)

References

^ "Stanford picked as 2022-23 Pac-12 Women's Basketball favorite in preseason polls". October 25, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
^ "Media selects preseason 2022-23 Pac-12 Women's Basketball All-Conference Team". October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
^ "Basketball Hall of Fame, WBCA Name Twenty Shooting Guards to Watch List for 2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award". hoophall.com. National Basketball Hall of Fame. October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
^ "Basketball Hall of Fame, WBCA Name Twenty Power Forwards to Watch List for 2023 Katrina McClain Award". hoophall.com. National Basketball Hall of Fame. October 20, 2022. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
^ "2023 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Women's Watch List Released".
^ "JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD PRESENTED BY WENDY'S ANNOUNCES 2022-23 WOMEN'S PRESEASON TOP 50 WATCH LIST".
^ "2022-23 Women's Basketball Roster". arizonawildcats.com. Arizona Athletics. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
^ Brown, PJ. "Arizona's Lauren Ware undergoes knee surgery, will miss 2022-23 season". Tucson.com. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
^ "2022-23 Women's Basketball Schedule". arizonawildcats.com. University of Arizona. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
^ "2022-23 Pac-12 Women's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva".

[1] "Stanford picked as 2022-23 Pac-12 Women's Basketball favorite in preseason polls". October 25, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.

[2] "Media selects preseason 2022-23 Pac-12 Women's Basketball All-Conference Team". October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.

[3] "Basketball Hall of Fame, WBCA Name Twenty Shooting Guards to Watch List for 2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award". hoophall.com. National Basketball Hall of Fame. October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.

[4] "Basketball Hall of Fame, WBCA Name Twenty Power Forwards to Watch List for 2023 Katrina McClain Award". hoophall.com. National Basketball Hall of Fame. October 20, 2022. Retrieved October 20, 2022.

[5] "2023 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Women's Watch List Released".

[6] "JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD PRESENTED BY WENDY'S ANNOUNCES 2022-23 WOMEN'S PRESEASON TOP 50 WATCH LIST".

[7] "2022-23 Women's Basketball Roster". arizonawildcats.com. Arizona Athletics. Retrieved May 1, 2022.

[8] Brown, PJ. "Arizona's Lauren Ware undergoes knee surgery, will miss 2022-23 season". Tucson.com. Retrieved November 14, 2022.

[9] "2022-23 Women's Basketball Schedule". arizonawildcats.com. University of Arizona. Retrieved April 5, 2022.

[10] "2022-23 Pac-12 Women's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva".

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