TUCSON, AZ – OCTOBER 30: Arizona Wildcats head coach Becky Burke during the second half of a women’s basketball exhibition game between the Cal State LA Golden Eagles and the University of Arizona Wildcats on October 30, 2025, at McKale Center in Tucson, AZ. (Photo by Christopher Hook/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
After a tough first outing for Becky Burke and the Arizona women’s basketball team, they were looking to bounce back tonight in the final exhibition game of the season. In a 59–43 game, it was a bit close for comfort against Cal State LA.
“Were we perfect?” asked Burke. “No, are there still plenty of areas to improve on? Yes, but like we talked about yesterday in the press conference, I wanted to see the response of our team. We improved today. We got better today. We got the monkey off our back.”
A different starting five came out for UA, as Burke wanted to see what some of her freshmen could show.
“Nothing was solidified last week,” said Burke. “Nothing is solidified moving forward. Do I think we have more answers? Absolutely. I don’t think it’s going to stay the same all season. I think it’s so much about matchups and about what type of game it is for what we’re going to do with our personnel.”
Arizona got into a bit of a hole early but responded with back to back threes by Mireia Jurado and Sumayah Sugapong, turning the tables early. Going into the first media timeout it was a 10-9 lead for the Wildcats.
Lani Cornfield kept it steady for Arizona with two trips to the line and a drive to the basket to give her six early points. The Wildcats controlled the glass in the first quarter, which led to a 11-0 run to end the quarter, giving them a 21-9 lead.
Both offenses stalled to start the second quarter, but Arizona maintained its lead. Nora Francois was able to create her own shot down low whenever she got the ball and got six quick points.
Cornfield continued her strong night with a nice scoop and score layup putting her at nine points. This was promptly followed by a Adde Adebanjo rejection.
Going into the half, Cal State LA’s Nevaeh Asiasi was called for a technical after the buzzer sounded, so Arizona had two free throws waiting for them coming out of the locker room.
Straight out of the half, Cornfield came out and made both technical free throws putting her into double digits on the night.
Scoring then became a premium for both teams, but once again Cornfield had a steal and score to put her at 13 points. However, she was called for a technical foul and that kept the Golden Eagles within striking distance.
The game flow turned into one that was physical, heated, and tense. It seemed like the Wildcats were on their way to a fast break, but the ball was knocked out of Sugapong’s hands. Then she rolled on the ball and inadvertently kicked a Golden Eagle in the face.
After reviewing the play, the foul was upgraded to a flagrant one foul. This put Cal State LA down by single digits heading into the fourth quarter.
“My mindset is like, let me worry about the refs, let the fans do their thing, and then we lock in and we stay in our circle, in our bubble,” said Burke. “We can’t look at the scoreboards, look at the replay and see what happened and complain. They went back, they made the right call, ultimately. They said it wasn’t intentional. I believe it would have been upgraded to something else if it was, so they gave her the lowest form, but it’s the contact to the face.”
If Arizona was going to pull this one out, it was going to need to find a steady hand down the stretch. The Wildcats got just that from Mickayla Purdue. Going into the fourth quarter she had only scored three points.
With quick transition buckets and some strong drives, Purdue finished with 11 on the night. It was the difference that Burke needed from one of her players to escape with the win.
It took the entire team to pull it out, and Burke knows it needs to be done by committee and not just one person.
“I don’t think we’re going to be a team this year that you’re just gonna be able to say one person does it every single night, and we put the load on their back,” said Burke. “That’s not how this team is built. Whoever’s a hot hand, we’re going to continue to go to them when they’re not anymore. We go to the next person. We make the extra pass.”
The Wildcats finished with 32 points in the paint, which was something Francois and her team focused on.
“I do think there was somewhat of a mismatch, mouse in the house type situation,” said Francois. “They were switching a lot, and that gave us an advantage to where we could just bury them under the rim and go to work.”
Cornfield finished as the leading scorer with 13. Francois led in rebounds with nine, and Daniah Trammell tied with Cornfield in assists with three.
The Wildcats now turn their attention to UC Riverside in the first official game of the Burke era. It was not perfect tonight, but as long as improvements continue to show, Burke’s squad will be heading in the right direction.
“We don’t need to be ready to win a Big 12 championship,” said Burke. “Did we get better from yesterday? Did we get better from last Thursday? I would say the answer is definitely yes.”