Arizona took down the Houston Cougars in their final home game of the season on Tuesday, giving their three seniors even more reason to celebrate.

The 75-67 victory at McKale Center at ALKAME Arena turned into a fourth-quarter takeover as the ‘Cats overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to outscore Houston 29-20 in the home stretch after winning the third quarter by 6 points. 

For a team that has battled all season, Tuesday’s win at McKale Center at ALKAME Arena  was about toughness, which the team showed throughout the game. 

The Wildcats (11-16, 2-14 Big 12) controlled the opening minutes. Senior Noelani Cornfield scored four points in the first three minutes, while Sumayah Sugapong drew contact on Arizona’s first trip to the line. The ‘Cats forced seven Houston turnovers in the first quarter. 

After a slow, whistle-heavy stretch late in the period, Arizona still held a 13-7 lead and shot 33.3% from three while holding Houston to just 11.1%. 

But the second quarter set a different tone. 

Houston (7-20, 1-15 Big 12) tightened up defensively and took advantage of Arizona mistakes. The Cougars tied the game midway through the second before Jade Jones gave Houston its first lead at 17-16 with just over four minutes left in the first half. 

A three from Briana Peguero and back-to-back layups off Wildcat turnovers pushed Houston’s advantage to nine late in the quarter. 

Momentum shifted further when Cornfield headed to the locker room after taking contact to the face. Without her strong presence all over the court, the Wildcats struggled to generate clean looks and went several minutes without scoring. 

Arizona entered halftime trailing 26-19 and shooting just 26% from the three while committing 12 turnovers. 

“We scored as many points in the third quarter as we did in the entire first half,” Houston Head Coach Matthew Mitchell said in the post game press conference. “We’re really good when we do certain things, and we’re really bad when we go away from those certain things”

Arizona came out of the halftime sharper and more aggressive. Tannyuel Welch opened the third with a three while senior Nora Francois attacked the rim. Cornfield, who was freshly stitched, immediately made looks down the court. 

The Wildcats matched Houston possession for possession in a back-and-fourth third quarter and trimmed their deficit to one multiple times before entering the fourth down 46-47. 

Mitchell credited Cornfield for sparking the UA’s turnaround. 

“I thought Cornfield just really was a woman on a mission. And I thought she set the tone there early.” he said. 

Her toughness set the tone for the night. 

Trainer Bart Jameson “told me she had to go get stitches, and I said, tell them to hurry up,” Burke said. “I think she got hit, maybe inadvertently, the lips started bleeding, so they had to get her stitched up. But that’s  toughness right there. Come back in and I think she was still just downhill and aggressive when she came back in and wasn’t a baby.”

Arizona opened the fourth quarter with determination. Daniah Trammell and Francois attacked early to reclaim the lead before Sugapong knocked down a three off a Houston turnover to make it 53-51. 

From there, the Wildcats leaned on free throws and defensive stops. Molly Ladwig, Francois and Sugapong capitalized at the line as Houston’s foul trouble mounted, and Arizona stretched the lead to eight after Cornfield delivered a sharp assist to Sugapong for a dagger three with under two minutes to play. 

Even as Houston tried to chip away late, the Wildcats answered every push, outscoring the Cougars and sealing the 75-67 senior night win. 

Senior night added another layer of emotion for Mickayla Perdue, the hot-shooting UA guard who has spent most of the season sidelined with injury. Perdue, a grad transfer, announced in mid-February that she was ending her college basketball career. 

 “I think that basketball has always been my identity,” she said during Tuesday’s post-game conference, adding that her injury “gave me an opportunity to find who I am outside of basketball and I’m glad that I had people around me to support me to lean on.”

Burke emphasized what the team has been missing without Perdue.

“I  think we’re sitting here, if Mickey Purdue’s healthy, with four or five more conference wins,” she said “And so, it’s great that some people are celebrating that they beat us by a couple, but, you know, we got 18 points sitting on the bench right now.”

The win over Houston doesn’t take away the challenges of the season, but it gave Arizona something to build on heading into its final regular season game on the road against Utah Saturday Feb. 28,  and the 2026 Phillips 66 Big 12 tournament March 4-8 in Kansas City, Missouri.

“I’m hoping we get confidence from this game, which we generally do when we win, and we have a little more bounce to our step,” said Burke. “So let’s go act like it. Let’s go execute well. Let’s go be some road warriors, see if we can’t win another one before we go to Kansas City, where anything can happen.” 

Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.