Arizona women's basketball beats Stanford 84-69 in season opener at Las Vegas

Arizona scored 25 points on 30 Stanford turnovers to control the game almost wire-to-wire, with Jasleen Green collecting 11 points and four steals and Sumayah Sugapong totaling 10 points and five steals.

UA coach Becky Burke said she wouldn't have guessed the Wildcats would get 30 turnovers but that the Wildcats' game plan was to be the aggressors.

"They're gigantic," Burke said. "I mean, they were 6-2, 6-3 on the perimeter, 6-5 in the post. We knew we were undersized, so we had to be small-dog mindset, gritty, feisty. We had to be the aggressors defensively, and that's what we were on the backside guarding the ball."

Stanford shot 48.0% from the field but took 15 fewer shots in part because it couldn't hang on to the ball. Arizona shot 46.3% and outrebounded the Cardinal 37-35.

"It was very disruptive," Stanford coach Kate Paye said of UA's defense. "They're athletic. They're quick. Honestly, they just fly around, and it creates a little bit of havoc out there. I was proud of our team for stabilizing at halftime and coming out and doing a much better job in the second half. We had a better flow going, but that is their identity, and they really imposed their will today."

Arizona built a 42-31 halftime lead by turning 15 Stanford turnovers into 13 points during the first half but Stanford turned it around early after halftime, going on an 9-0 run to tie the game at 42 with 7:25 left in the third quarter.

But Arizona never trailed after that, going on a 7-1 run after the tie and taking a 61-52 lead at the end of the third quarter.

In the first half, Williams had 10 points, two rebounds and two assists for the Wildcats, while Green had nine points and three steals.

Green set the tone early, grabbing three steals in the first five minutes of the game while Arizona took an early 8-2 lead. She stole the ball and dished an assist to Aliyahna "Puff" Morris, then put in her own basket after a steal on the Cardinal's next possession.

The game was a rematch of programs that met in the 2021 NCAA title game, though the circumstances for both have changed dramatically since then. Not only are they in different conferences, but Arizona has been rebuilding under second-year coach Becky Burke, while Stanford was picked to finish 13th of 18 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season.