ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes always preaches the process.
And the process was definitely on display Monday night as the Wildcats had a much more balanced attack in their 80-36 blowout victory over Western New Mexico at McKale Center in their final exhibition game.
Last week’s exhibition game was all about one player — the athleticism of senior JaLea Bennett. She scored 35 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and was diving for 50-50 balls.
This time out, everyone got in on the action.
From freshman Sam Thomas’ opening basket there was a sense Monday’s game would be different.
And it was.
“We really improved from last game,†Barnes said. “It was another week of practice, to show film. We’re going to play the freshman a lot. This year it’s all about the process of growing the team. We can’t expect JaLea to score 35 points every game.
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“She was very efficient tonight and played under control. She wasn’t selfish.â€
Bennett still led all scorers with 19 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds in 22 minutes.
She even added a few more plays for the highlight reel—including two back-to-back fast breaks with a little less than three minutes left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter in another back-to-back stretch she scored a basket and a three-pointer.
Freshman Marlee Kyles added 18 points (4-for-7 on three-pointers), Destiny Graham had a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds), and walk-on Lindsey Malecha came off the bench in the third quarter to score nine, all on 3-pointers.
“Lindsey came out and she gives us another shooter,†Barnes said. “She does the little things that people don’t see like jumping to the ball all the time. She does this in practice every single day. She’s capable, hungry and has a chip on her shoulder. I like what she brings.â€
Kat Wright added eight points and was 2 of 5 on three-pointers.
The Wildcats play Iona Friday at noon in their home opener.
Extra points
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ saw a familiar face wearing the purple and gold for the Mustangs: Melody McLaughlin, who graduated from Mountain View High School and played two seasons at Pima Community College. After averaging numbers like these in her sophomore season — 13.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game —s he transferred to Newman University in Wichita, Kansas, before ending up the WNMU roster this season. The senior guard sat our much of last season due to an injury. On Monday night against the Wildcats, she scored seven points, grabbed three rebounds and had two assists.