Jan. 12, 2003
PULLMAN, Wash. - Freshman Jill Noe scored 18 of her career-high-tying 23 points in the second half as the Arizona State women's basketball team rallied to a 66-58 victory over Washington State Saturday night at WSU's Friel Court.
With the victory, ASU's first Pac-10 road win of the season, the Sun Devils improved to 11-4 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-10. The loss marked the 37th straight defeat for Washington State and dropped the Cougars to 0-13 overall and 0-5 in the league on the year.
The first half was all Cougars as Washington State forced nine ASU turnovers early and took a 15-7 lead with 8:40 to play. The Cougars took their biggest lead of the game three minutes later, going up 19-9 with 5:38 to play after three more ASU turnovers. The Sun Devils went on a 9-0 run, including a three-pointer from sophomore Kylan Loney, to cut the WSU lead to 19-18 with 2:35 left in the half, but the Cougars scored five of the final six points of the half to take a 24-19 halftime lead. Arizona State shot just 25 percent in the first half, knocking down just seven field goals, and turned the ball over 17 times.
In the second half, ASU quickly cut the lead to two when Noe knocked down a three-pointer, but Washington State answered with a 9-2 run to make it 33-24 with 16:32 to play. Loney knocked down her second three-pointer of the game to make it 33-27 and start the ASU rally. Freshman Kristen Kovesdy made a pair of layups including a one on the fastbreak after forcing a steal to get the Sun Devils within two, 35-33, with 13:08 left in the game.
ASU took control a minute later when Noe knocked down a shot on an inbounds play, was fouled and knocked down the free throw to tie the game at 38 with 11:21 left. Senior Rainy Crisp stole the Cougars' inbounds pass on the next possession and knocked down a pair of free throws to give ASU its first lead of the ball game, 42-40 with 10:36 to play.
WSU briefly took a two-point lead, but Noe converted on another three-point play to put ASU up for good, 45-43 with 8:23 remaining in the game. After Noe's three-point play, the Sun Devils hit a pair of free throws, including one on a technical foul, to go up 47-43 and never allowed tthe Cougars to get closer than three en route to their Pac-10 road win of the season.
Noe led all scorers and tied her career best with 23 points, including 18 in the second half. She also added four assists and three steals in the victory. Kovesdy finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Buckner pulled down a career-high and team-best 12 rebounds and added eight points, two blocks and two steals. Freshman Jenny Thigpin added a career-high seven rebounds and had four points and a block in just nine minutes.
For Washington State, Jessica Perry led three Cougars in double figures with 29 points, while Bianca McCall turned in a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
After shooting just 25 percent in the first half, ASU turned in a 44.1 percent effort in the second half (15-34) to finish at 35.5 percent for the game.
Arizona State returns home next week, playing host to UCLA on Thursday night at 6 p.m. and to USC Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena. Both games will be televised locally on AZ-TV and can be heard on ASU's new radio home, NBC 1190 AM, with Vince Marotta calling the action.