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She might have even won the Wooden Award that season, too. And no matter whatever happened on the court, there was never a doubt that her gregarious personality would have continued to win over UA fans, students and teammates alike.

But “Polkey,� as she was affectionately known, was gone before the season started, the victim of a blood clot that turned fatal one shocking morning in September 2005. Her death led to controversy over her treatment and dragged down the UA women’s basketball program after years of groundbreaking success under then-coach Joan Bonvicini.

Her immense impact on and off the court, over just three seasons, made Polk a no-brainer to help lead our choices for the Arizona women’s basketball quarter century teams.

Here’s how they look:

FIRST TEAM

GUARDS

Aari McDonald

McDonald simply put was the most decorated player in UA women’s basketball history, a second-team all-American in 2019-20 and 2020-21, when her electricity ignited the Wildcats’ run to the NCAA championship game. McDonald had three straight games of 30-plus points, capped by a 36-point Final Four semifinal outburst against UConn.

That season, she also became the only UA player to win the Pac-12 Player of the Year award other than her coach, Adia Barnes, who had done so in 1997-98. And, at just 5-foot-6, McDonald’s aggressiveness, fearlessness and athleticism led her to become the Pac-12’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

McDonald is Arizona’s all-time leader in scoring average at 21.9 points per game, while her 2,041 total points puts her third behind Barnes (2,237) and Davellyn Whyte (2,059) on Arizona’s list of all-time leading scorers. She’s also sixth on the school’s all-time steals list with 235.

Dee-Dee Wheeler

While Polk dominated inside, the Chicago-bred Wheeler was the engine of Bonvicini’s well-accomplished teams of the early 2000s. She was named the Pac-10’s Freshman of the Year in 2001-02, then made first team all-Pac-10 in each of the next three seasons, when the Wildcats won a cumulative 76 games and reached the NCAA Tournament every time.

UA’s all-time leader in steals with 304, Wheeler also ranks fourth on UA’s all-time leading scorer list at 1,966, eighth in 3-point percentage (35.1) and fifth in assists (472).

FORWARDS/CENTERS

Ify Ibekwe

Becoming an all-Pac-10 all-freshman pick in 2007-08 under Bonvicini, Ibewke stuck around for three notably productive seasons after Niya Butts took over and became the Wildcats’ all-time leading rebounder with 1,194 over four seasons through 2010-11.

As a sophomore in 2008-09, she was named to the Pac-10’s all-defensive team and an honorable mention all-America pick by the Associated Press. She was also an honorable mention all-American in 2010-11, when the Wildcats had their best season (21-12) of Butts’ eight-year tenure.

Cate Reese

The Wildcats’ first-ever McDonald’s All-American, Reese lived up to that cred during a four-year career at Arizona from 2018-22, helping the Wildcats reach the 2021 title game and becoming an honorable mention all-American as a senior.

The second-leading scorer (10.9) on UA’s 2021 Final Four team, Reese ranks fifth on the school’s all-time leading scoring list at 1,951 and is sixth in all-time rebounding average (6.3). She became only the third player in program history to collect 1,500 points and 750 rebounds after Barnes and Ibekwe.

Shawntinice Polk

Even though she never had a chance to play that 2005-06 season, Polk still remains Arizona’s all-time leading shot-blocker (222) while she also ranks No. 8 in scoring (1,467) and fourth in rebounding (914).

Polk led UA in blocks all three seasons she played, and her 21 double-doubles in 2002-03 remains a program single-season record.

SECOND TEAM

GUARDS

Davellyn Whyte

The daughter of a three-time major league baseball outfielder Devon Whyte, Davellyn was a four-time all-Pac-10 first team selection. Basically, she put together one of the best freshman seasons in UA history out of Phoenix St. Mary’s High School and kept going.

She averaged 15.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists while becoming the Pac-10’s Freshman of the Year in 2009-10 and picking up her first all-Pac-10 honor. During UA’s 21-win season in 2010-11, Whyte led the Wildcats in minutes played (31.7) while averaging 15.8 points and 4.6 rebounds,

Whyte posted the program’s first triple-double, collecting 31 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists against her hometown team, ASU, as a senior in 2012-13. She left UA as the No. 2 scorer in school history and leader in minutes played (4,244), though Sam Thomas later passed her up. She also still ranks second in steals (266) and No. 4 in scoring average (16.3).

Shaina Pellington

The Big 12’s Freshman of the Year while playing for Oklahoma, Pellington transferred to Arizona in 2019, sat out a year as a redshirt (remember that rule?) and then picked up where she left off.

Pellington was a sparkplug off the bench for the Wildcats’ 2021 Final Four team, collecting 15 points and seven rebounds against Stanford in the national championship game, while she hit a buzzer-beating shot to give UA a win at Oregon State in 2021-22.

She took advantage of her COVID year in 2022-23, making all Pac-12 first team and being named co-Most Improved Player of the Year while averaging 13.4 points and shooting 53.7%.

FORWARDS/CENTERS

Sam Thomas

Another key player during the Wildcats’ 2021 run to the title game, Thomas started more games (154) than any other player in UA women’s basketball history over her five-year career between 2017-18 and 2021-22, while she also collected a school-record 5,125 minutes played along the way.

Thomas was a first-team all-Pac-12 and all-Pac-12 defensive pick in 2020-21, when she led the league in steals per game (2.3), and was named a Pac-12 honorable mention pick in 2019-20 and 2021-22.

Elizabeth Pickney

Our quarter-century team only considers contributions to UA starting in 2000-01, after Pickney had played two seasons for the Wildcats, but her junior and senior seasons were more than enough to qualify.

Pickney was a first-team all-Pac-10 pick both as a junior in 2000-01 and as a senior in 2001-02, averaging more than 16 points and six rebounds in both seasons. Her 16.4-point average in 2000-01 ranks fifth in program history, while her 8.0 rebounding average the next season ranks fifth.

LaBrittney Jones

Ranking eighth in rebounding average (6.0) on UA’s all-time list after leading the Wildcats in that category during all four of her seasons between 2013-14 and 2016-17, Jones gets extra credit for sticking with the Wildcats as the Butts era wore down.

Arizona went just 29-63 over her first three seasons from 2013-14 to 2015-16, leading to Butts’ 2016 dismissal, but Jones agreed to play for Barnes as a senior in 2016-17. The Wildcats went 14-16 during that transition year, and Barnes called Jones “invaluable� for her leadership and work ethic.

THIRD TEAM

GUARDS

Joy Hollingsworth

That Hollingsworth is currently sitting on the Seattle City Council in her native Seattle probably comes as little surprise to those who saw her impact on the Wildcats. Even while sitting on the bench as a redshirt transfer from the University of San Francisco in 2004-05, Hollingsworth was named the Wildcats’ Most Inspirational Player.

Then she began making an impact on the court over her two-year UA career, leading the Wildcats in scoring average (14.4) and dropping 22 points on Oregon to lead UA to a Pac-10 Tournament first round win in 2005-06 and becoming an honorable mention all Pac-10 pick the following season, when she averaged 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

Helena Pueyo

The extra year of eligibility given to “COVID-year� players who competed in 2020-21 was a boon for the Arizona women’s basketball program, allowing everyone from that Final Four team to play five seasons and keep developing.

Pueyo was a perfect example. Over her five years with the Wildcats starting in 2019-20, she played a key reserve role for two years, then turned into a part-time starter in 2021-22 and 2022-23 — and started all 34 games as a tireless fifth-year player in 2023-24. That season, she averaged 36.8 minutes, broke the UA single-season steals record (110) and emerged as a more vocal leader while becoming an all-Pac-12 player.

Her growth as a fifth-year player was no more clear than in UA’s 69-59 First Four NCAA Tournament win over Auburn, when she morphed from defensive whiz into a take-charge offensive player, hitting 5 of 6 field goals and scoring 14 of her 16 points after halftime to help the Wildcats hold off the Tigers. She finished as UA’s all-time leader in steals (312), while making the Pac-12’s all-defensive team during her fourth and fifth seasons.

Reshea Bristol

Most of Bristol’s standout Arizona career occurred before the turn of the century, but she still qualifies here based on her outstanding senior season of 2000-01.

Leading the Wildcats to a 20-12 record that season, Bristol averaged 15.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists when she became a first-team all-Pac-10 pick and set a UA single-season steals record with 96 (McDonald tied the record in 2018-19 but played in five more games that season).

During the 2000-01 season, Bristol tied a team single-game record with 16 assists against Washington, and her 242 total assists that season rank second behind only the 278 that Brenda Pantoja dished in 1995-96.

FORWARDS/CENTER

Trinity Baptiste

Having already earned a master’s degree in entrepreneurship at UA in 2021, the Virginia Tech transfer actually gave up a chance to return in 2021-22 and finished with just one season as a Wildcat.

But it was a big one: Baptiste played a key role on the floor and in the locker room for UA’s Final Four team in 2020-21, prodding the Wildcats on after a Pac-12 Tournament semifinal loss to UCLA and backing it up on the court.

An honorable mention all-Pac-12 pick that season, Baptiste went on to average 9.5 points and 7.3 rebounds over UA’s six-game NCAA Tournament run. She grabbed a key rebound when McDonald was off the floor with an ankle issue to help UA beat Indiana in the Elite Eight and reach the Final Four.

Esmery Martinez

Martinez spent most of her college career at West Virginia, from 2019-20 through 2021-22, but this is the transfer portal era, after all. So maybe she might also make a Mountaineer quarter-century team, after becoming an all-Big 12 first teamer in 2020-21.

During her two ensuing seasons at Arizona, Martinez was twice named Pac-12 honorable mention while becoming known for toughness. She was named the Associated Press national Player of the Week after leading the Wildcats to a sweep of Stanford and Cal in the Bay Area during the 2023-24 season, averaging 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds.

COACH

Adia Barnes

While Bonvicini is undoubtedly Arizona’s top coach of the previous century because she put the Wildcats on the national map — and still led them to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2003, 2004 and 2005 — her protégé lifted the program to even greater heights over the past quarter century.

After two sub-.500 rebuilding seasons under Barnes, the Wildcats broke through by winning 24 games and the WNIT title in 2018-19 and were expected to go deep in the 2020 NCAA Tournament had COVID not hit. They then grabbed the nation’s attention by reaching the 2021 NCAA championship game, and made each of the next three NCAA Tournaments, winning at least one game each time.

Along the way, Barnes and her Wildcats also broke the women’s basketball attendance record by drawing a sellout crowd for their 2019 WNIT final against Northwestern. They have continued to galvanize a significant fan base inside McKale Center since then, though Barnes left Arizona in April to coach at SMU.