Arizona on point in 1st-round NCAA win over West Virginia; face Maryland on Sunday

COLLEGE PARK, Md. —  Kailyn Gilbert sat quietly on the bench patiently waiting for her turn, not knowing if it would come.

As Arizona took a big lead early, she only saw two minutes of action in the first half.

Then, as seniors Shaina Pellington and Helena Pueyo collected their fourth fouls, Gilbert’s number was called.

With Arizona holding only a slim three-point lead over West Virginia with 5:28 left in the third quarter, the freshman stepped onto the court for the biggest moment of the season.

She delivered with a commanding performance on both ends, helping No. 7 seed Arizona to a 75-62 victory over No. 10 seed West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at XFINITY Center.

No. 2 see and host Maryland dispatched No. 15 Holy Cross, 93-61, in the second game. That sets up the much-anticipated game between former Wildcat and current Terrapin coach Brenda Frese and UA coach Adia Barnes on Sunday.

The stat sheet might not reflect all that Gilbert did on the court — finishing with five points, two assists, three rebounds and one steal. But she really led the team when both point guards, Pellington and Pueyo, weren’t available.

“When I called her, she wanted to say, ‘Are you talking to me?’ ” Barnes said. “I think she was a little surprised, but we believe in her and she's been great the last couple weeks in practice. It was good to see that translate to the game.

"I thought she did a really good job under a pressure situation as a freshman in the tournament; we're only up (a few points) and they have momentum. I'm very proud of her. If she doesn't do what she did, we would not win the game. … She not only had to run the team (but) she had to guard number 11 (JJ Quinerly), and she's a handful.”

Gilbert, who can create her own shot, was calling out plays this time, distributing the ball and shutting down Quinerly — only allowing her to put up four of her 19 total points during a more than 12-minute stretch. Quinerly didn’t score in the fourth quarter.

“I was like, ‘You know what? I work hard every day, I'm in the gym, these are the moments that I work for. I feel like I'm made for it,'”  Gilbert said. “I was just like, 'I'm going to come in, I'm going to have energy.' I feel like energy is what got us over this game.”

Gilbert went on to say that it was her teammates who helped her with her composure — not letting the moment get too big. It was their encouragement and “me analyzing what's going on, on the court. (That) helped me stay locked in and ready, so when the opportunity came, I was ready.”

She knew the plan was to keep finding the hot hand of Cate Reese, who had been battling down low all game. Reese finished with 25 points — 15 of them coming with Gilbert at the point. It was the eighth time in Reese’s UA career that she has scored 25 or more points. Reese also grabbed six rebounds and had three assists and two blocks.

As usual Reese, deferred to her teammates and especially Gilbert, who she said “didn’t play like a freshman today.”

Reese wasn’t the only post who took on everything that the Mountaineers threw at the Wildcats. Senior forward Esmery Martinez, who played at West Virginia last year, put up her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds. She also had two blocks, two assists and a steal.

It was a total team effort during that second-half stretch. Reese, Martinez, Madi Conner, Lauren Fields and Paris Clark locked down on defense, getting stop after stop. The big thing that stood out to Barnes was how her Wildcats played as a unit.

“(I’m) proud of us coming today playing better defense against two really good guards and doing the things that I asked and doing it as a cohesive team,” Barnes said. “If we can do that, I think we can go really far.

"I thought that we did a really good job of sticking to the game plan and found a way to win. It wasn't always pretty, but the players did what I asked them to do.”

Pellington, meanwhile, did Pellington things — when she was on the court: Driving to the hoop, hitting jumpers, dishing to her teammates and locking down her opponent.

Even though she sat on the bench with four fouls for more than a quarter of the game, she scored 18 points in 20 minutes.

In the first quarter, the Wildcats came out on fire with Pellington putting her mark on the game. She scored nine points (4 of 5 from the field) and dished four assists. Arizona put up 28 points in the first quarter — tying the most points in a first quarter this season. The Wildcats led by 11 points at the turn and took a seven-point lead into halftime.

The rookie, Gilbert, making her first NCAA Tournament appearance, sat next to the fifth-year senior, Reese, who is making her final run, in the media room after the game. When Gilbert was asked about Reese’s leadership all season, she responded: “It really means everything.”

“This is her last year," Gilbert said. "The biggest thing for me is just playing my heart out for them (all the seniors). I would want the same thing if I was in their shoes, so just giving it all I got because we're very talented, and I think we can go really far. From now on, you'll get my best 'cause I care about y'all, so ... I got you.”that shoots it at an incredibly high percentage.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona women have no trouble with WVU in NCAA basketball opener