{"id":110017,"date":"2025-08-01T10:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T10:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/110017\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T10:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T10:32:10","slug":"aari-mcdonald-has-historic-night-in-the-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/110017\/","title":{"rendered":"Aari McDonald Has Historic Night in the WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The history of Arizona<\/a> women\u2019s basketball isn\u2019t near the success that UA fans have seen with men\u2019s basketball with their 39 NCAA Tournament appearances, 21 Sweet Sixteens, 11 Elite Eights, four Final Fours and one National Title.<\/p>\n

However, the success of the program all changed when then-head coach Adia Barnes managed to get things going in the right direction and eventually landed them on the biggest stage in the 2021 national title game where the Wildcats<\/a> fell 54-53 against Stanford.<\/p>\n

Not only was Barnes a massive part of turning things around but so was star guard Aari McDonald, who followed her coach from Washington to Tucson and helped build a tough physical program.<\/p>\n

While in Tucson, McDonald finished with averaging 21.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 4.2 APG while shooting 44% from the field in 93 games in her three years with the program.<\/p>\n

In three years with the program, McDonald finished with 2,041 points (No. 3), 386 assists (No. 10) and 235 steals (No. 7) making her arguably the best player in the history of Arizona women\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n

\"Aari<\/p>\n

Indiana Fever guard Aari McDonald (2) shoots the ball for a three-point basket on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. \/ Grace Hollars\/IndyStar \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Now, she is playing for the Indiana Fever and was signed in the middle of the season with the team currently sitting at 15-12 as they have dealt with multiple injuries this season.<\/p>\n

McDonald has played in 16 games this season where she is averaging 9.2 PPG, 4.4 APG and 2.0 RPG while shooting 43% from the field and 29% from the 3-point line.<\/p>\n

In the Fever\u2019s last game against the Phoenix Mercury, McDonald shined in her return to the desert, dropping a career-high 27 points while collecting four assists and two steals in 31 minutes of action.<\/p>\n

Not only did McDonald drop a career-high, she was able to shoot 63% from the field while going 3 of 4 from the 3-point line.<\/p>\n

The Fever were able to walk away with an impressive 107-101 win over the Mercury in a team that sits in the top three of the WNBA as we get closer to the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I\u2019m from California, I want to say I\u2019m from Arizona as well,\u201d McDonald said when asked about the Wildcats. \u201cI made incredible bonds over there and I do keep up with everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although McDonald didn\u2019t start the season on an WNBA roster but is now in the thick of things and becoming a big factor for the Fever.<\/p>\n

Please share your thoughts on how Aari McDonald is developing in the WNBA and turning into a key player for the roster. To do so, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The history of Arizona women\u2019s basketball isn\u2019t near the success that UA fans have seen with men\u2019s basketball…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":110018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-110017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114953056642600567","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}