Jan. 22, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - Sophomore Emily Westerberg scored a career-high 26 points to lead Arizona State to a 74-65 win over Oregon Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
With the win, ASU's 13th in 14 tries at Wells Fargo Arena, the Sun Devils improved to 14-5 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-10, while Oregon fell to 12-6 overall and 5-4 in league play.
The Sun Devils scored seven straight points to take a 15-8 lead with 9:08 to play in the first half, but the Ducks tied it up with a 7-0 run of their own, 15-15 with 5:17 left. Neither team led by more than three over the next three minutes, and Oregon tied the game at 19 with a three-point play by sophomore Eleanor Haring. ASU scored the final four points of the opening frame to take a 23-19 halftime lead.
Oregon scored the first five points of the second half to tie the game at 23 with 18:22 to play. The Ducks would tie it twice more before sophomore Aubree Johnson made a free throw and senior Kylan Loney drained a three-pointer to put the Sun Devils ahead for good, 34-20 with 12:20 to play. Loney knocked down two more three-pointers and Westerberg had six points as ASU pushed its lead to 15, 55-40 with 4:57 left in the game. Oregon cut the lead to six, but Arizona State made 13 of 16 free throws down the stretch to hang on for the 74-65 victory.
Westerberg had 17 of her career-best 26 points in the second half. She finished the game 8-of-15 from the field and made all eight of her free throw attempts to go along with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Loney turned in 13 points, including 3-of-5 three-point attempts, and now has 133 career three-pointers and needs just one to tie ASU's career record. Johnson added 10 points off the bench, while Johnson and junior Amy Denson each had seven rebounds to lead the Sun Devils.
After shooting 34.4 percent in the first half, the Sun Devils knocked down 51.9 percent of their field goals in the second half and finished with a season-high nine blocked shots.
Oregon senior Cathrine Kraayeveld had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Ducks.
Arizona State returns to action on Wednesday night, traveling to Tucson to take on the Arizona Wildcats (14-5, 6-3 Pac-10). Wednesday's game at the McKale Center will tip off at 7 p.m. and can be heard locally on NBC 1190 AM or via the internet at www.thesundevils.com with Jeff Munn and Seth Sulka calling the action.