McDonald powers Arizona past Indiana and into Final Four

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Arizona asks Aari McDonald to do just about all the things for the Wildcats. And just about each and every recreation, she provides all she’s got.

McDonald scored 33 points in a dizzying display of razzle-dazzle shot generating and gutsy management in crunch time, carrying the No. three seed Wildcats to a 66-fifty three win around No. four seed Indiana on Monday night time, sending Arizona to its first Final Four in women’s NCAA Event historical past.

“Just currently being a very little player, I constantly perform with a chip on my shoulder,” mentioned McDonald, who stands just 5-foot-6 but made use of her smaller frame dimension to slip beneath and all-around Indiana defenders or shake them off the dribble.

“A good deal of people today say I’m too smaller. I’ll hardly ever do this, I’ll hardly ever do that. That drives me,” she mentioned.

The Pac-twelve player of the yr managed just about each and every Arizona possession, hitting the Hoosiers with slashing drives, timely rebounds and even a banked-in three-pointer.

She briefly remaining the recreation with a twisted remaining ankle late in the fourth quarter, but had it taped up and limped back on the court to score 6 much more points. Her three-stage perform with 34 seconds remaining put the exclamation stage on the victory.

Arizona (20-5) advanced to Friday’s countrywide semifinal in opposition to best-seeded UConn, which reached its 13th straight Final Four when it conquer No. two seed Baylor earlier Monday.

Wildcats coach Adia Barnes, who led the Wildcats to the Sweet 16 as a stage guard in 1998, is now the sixth coach to direct her alma mater to the women’s Final Four.

Barnes has mentioned she took a hazard when she returned to coach at Arizona 5 several years back, when it was a person of the worst plans in the Pac-twelve. Then McDonald transferred from Washington and the two have been not-so-quietly setting up the system in the desert ever since.

“Aari, I questioned her to do all the things. She has performed all the things the complete time she’s been listed here,” Barnes. “And I’m very pleased of all of these young girls all-around her. They combat and they perform for her, and it’s just awesome.”

McDonald topped thirty points for the next straight event recreation. She scored 31 in opposition to Texas A&M two times earlier. Against the Hoosiers, she was twelve-for-20 shooting and manufactured 5 of 6 three-ideas.

“I constantly want to be superior than I was the day just before,” McDonald mentioned.

History was heading to be manufactured whichever staff gained Monday night time. The Hoosiers advanced earlier the Sweet 16 for the first time but their methodical, grinding recreation just ran into a a player it could not match for forty minutes.

It worked for three quarters. Following pulling back from an eight-stage deficit in the 3rd guiding a workhorse night time from Mackenzie Holmes in the submit, the Hoosiers had tied it forty eight-forty eight. But a scoring drought of much more than three minutes retained them from generating a cost in a recreation Indiana led only a person minute of the next in the next quarter.

Holmes scored 20 and grabbed eight rebounds to direct Indiana (21-6), and the Hoosiers tried to use her existence in the submit to regulate the recreation until the late scoring challenges.

Arizona manufactured consecutive three-ideas in the center of the fourth quarter, the latter from Helena Pueyo off a bullet move from McDonald, for a 57-50 direct. Pueyo manufactured two three-ideas in the ultimate quarter.

“I feel like we got some superior appears to be, we could not put an exclamation stage on some of them,” Indiana coach Teri Moren mentioned. “It was challenging for us, but I feel like we gave it all the things we got and we did not let up for a person next. And which is all I can check with for from my staff.”

The tension of the greatest night time in system historical past for equally groups showed early in a timid, ragged start off as the first 10 pictures of the recreation misfired just before McDonald eventually got a limited jumper to fall. When McDonald started out heating up, she scored 10 of Arizona’s first fourteen points.

McDonald even grabbed a recreation-large eleven rebounds, like a person she ripped from and Indiana player’s palms for a layup to shut the 3rd quarter.

“She’s an elite player and she stepped up big time,” Holmes mentioned. “She got to the rim perfectly, she can score on all three levels … We gave it our finest shot, but she hit a good deal of challenging pictures on us tonight.”

STAT LINE

Indiana shot 36% and was of 9 on three-ideas. The Hoosiers were 13 of 17 on no cost throws but got zero points off their bench and only got eight next-likelihood points.

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