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Meet your 2018-19 Wildcats: Revamped roster includes program's top-rated recruiting class
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Meet your 2018-19 Wildcats: Revamped roster includes program's top-rated recruiting class

  • By PJ Brown Special to the Arizona Daily Star
  • Nov 8, 2018
  • Nov 8, 2018 Updated Dec 17, 2018
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Editor’s note: This article is part of the Star’s 2018-19 college basketball guide.

Meet your 2018-19 Arizona Wildcats

University of Arizona Wildcats women's basketball

Arizona coach Adia Barnes talks positioning with forward Sam Thomas, who started all 37 games as a sophomore with the Wildcats this season and averaged 34 minutes a game. Barnes’ Wildcats expect to boast greater depth in 2019-20.

Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star

The Star introduces you to each player on Adia Barnes' new-look roster for the upcoming season.

1 Shalyse Smith

Women's Wildcat Basketball

1 Shalyse Smith

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Freshman

Height: 6-1

Hometown (high school): Tacoma, Washington (Bellarmine Prep)

Last season: Smith averaged 16.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.6 steals, 3.5 assists and 2.5 blocks per game in her senior year. She was listed as a four-star recruit, the No. 7 forward as a prospect and the No. 48 player in the country.

2 Aari McDonald

Women's Wildcat Basketball

2 Aari McDonald

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Redshirt sophomore

Position: Guard

Height: 5-7

Hometown (high school): Fresno, California (Brookside Christian)

Last season: McDonald sat out because of transfer rules. In her freshman year at Washington, she earned Pac-12 all-freshman team honors and was named freshman of the week twice. She averaged 9.8 points per game and shot 47 percent from the field and was the Huskies’ third-leading scorer behind current WNBA standouts Kelsey Plum and Chantel Osahor. McDonald started in 21 games of the 28 she played in and averaged 13.7 points per game in the NCAA Tournament.

4 Lucia Alonso

Women's Wildcat Basketball

4 Lucia Alonso

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Junior

Position: Guard

Height: 5-7

Hometown (high school): Leon, Spain (Aron Leon Cuna del Parlamentarismo)

Last season: Alonso led the team by shooting 39.1 percent from the 3-point line, the ninth-highest total in program history. She also averaged 7.9 points and 3.3 assists per game. She logged 1,088 total minutes — the most ever by a sophomore at the UA. She was named Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention.

10 Tee Tee Starks

Women's Wildcat Basketball

10 Tee Tee Starks

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Senior

Position: Forward

Height: 5-9

Hometown (high school): Brooklyn Park, Minnesota (Hopkins)

Last season: Sat out because of transfer rules. At Iowa State, she started 14 games and averaged 3 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists per game. She played in all 31 games, starting 14 of them. Starks was named to the Academic All-Big-12 first team for her performance in the classroom. At Arizona, she was recently named one of the academic athletes of the month.

14 Sam Thomas

Women's Wildcat Basketball

14 Sam Thomas

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Sophomore

Position: Forward

Height: 6-0

Hometown (high school): Las Vegas (Centennial)

Last season: She made the Pac-12 all-freshman team and was named the UA athletic department’s female freshman of the year. She started all 30 games and played the most minutes (1,088) for a freshman in program history. Thomas led all Pac-12 freshmen in rebounding, steals, blocks, and minutes played and was second in scoring. Thomas was the only player in the Pac-12 to finish in the Top 10 in the conference rebounds, steals and blocks. She averaged 10.2 points and 7 rebounds per game, and shot nearly 37 percent from the 3-point line.

20 Dom McBryde

Women's Wildcat Basketball

20 Dom McBryde

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Redshirt junior

Position: Forward

Hometown (high school): Bedford, Indiana (Bedford North Lawrence)

Last season: Sat out because of transfer rules. As a sophomore at Purdue, McBryde earned All-Big Ten honorable mention. She averaged 6.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. McBryde shot 47 percent from the field, the seventh-best in the Big Ten. She grabbed 221 rebounds, the third-most ever by a sophomore at Purdue.

21 Destiny Graham

Women's Wildcat Basketball

21 Destiny Graham

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Senior

Position: Forward

Height: 6-3

Hometown (high school): San Francisco (Eastside College Prep)

Last season: Graham played most of her games at center instead of forward as Barnes did not have a true center. But Graham still doubled her output from the previous season with 8.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. She finished third in the Pac-12 with an 82 percent free-throw rate and posted her first two double-double games.

22 Lindsey Malecha

Women's Wildcat Basketball

22 Lindsey Malecha

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Senior

Position: Guard

Height: 5-9

Hometown (high school): Mahtomedi, Minnesota (Hill-Murray)

Last season: She played in 23 games last season as a walk-on. In August, coach Adia Barnes surprised Malecha with a scholarship for the upcoming season. She had four steals, scored 31 points and averaged 5.1 minutes per game last year.

24 Bryce Nixon

Women's Wildcat Basketball

24 Bryce Nixon

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Freshman

Height: 5-10

Hometown (high school): Phoenix (Arcadia)

Last season: Nixon was named Offensive Player of the Year and All-Arizona her senior year of high school. She finished her Arcadia career as one of only three players in Arizona to score more than 2,000 points and have 500 assists. ESPN listed her as a four-star recruit.

25 Cate Reese

Women's Wildcat Basketball

25 Cate Reese

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Freshman

Position: Forward

Height: 6-2

Hometown (high school): Cypress, Texas (Cypress Woods)

Last season: Reese was in high school, where she averaged 30.6 points and 15.3 rebounds per game. Reese became Arizona’s first-ever McDonald’s All-American, and was named honorable mention All-American by the Naismith Trophy. ESPN rated Reese the fourth-best post player in the country and the 14th-best prospect in the nation.

32 Kiana Barkhoff

Women's Wildcat Basketball

32 Kiana Barkhoff

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Sophomore

Position: Center

Height: 6-3

Hometown (high school): Kitzengen, Germany (Palm Harbor)

Last season: Barkhoff played in 22 games her freshman year, averaging 5.9 minutes per game. She totaled 15 blocks and 27 rebounds.

34 Semaj Smith

Women's Wildcat Basketball

34 Semaj Smith

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Class: Freshman

Height: 6-6

Hometown (high school): Long Beach, California (St. Anthony)

Last season: Smith averaged 12.3 points, 12.6 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game as a senior. She was listed as a five-star recruit, the No. 9 post in the country and No. 52 player in the nation.

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