Feb. 24, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - Junior Kristen Kovesdy and sophomore Aubree Johnson each scored 14 points to lead Arizona State past Washington 69-48 Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
ASU snapped Washington's three-game winning streak and held onto a share of fourth place in the Pac-10 standings with one game left in the regular season. The Sun Devils improved to 19-8 overall and 11-6 in league play with the victory, while the Huskies fell to 12-15 and 8-9.
ASU took control of the game early, using a 6-0 run to take a 14-6 lead with 14:03 to play. The two teams combined for 27 first-half turnovers, but ASU shot 58.3 percent from the field and scored the last five points of the opening frame to take a 33-23 halftime advantage. Junior Amy Denson came off the bench to lead the team with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting in the first half.
In the second half, Washington scored the first five points to cut the ASU lead in half, but Johnson had four points and senior Lauren Stagg completed a three-point play in a 9-0 run to give ASU a 44-30 edge with 14:32 to play. The Sun Devils, which have won four of their last five games overall and six straight home contests, then used a 15-6 run to take a 61-42 lead with 6:53 to play and put the game away.
Johnson finished with a career-high 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while Kovesdy made all seven of her field goal attempts. Denson finished with 10 points and four steals and tied her career best with seven assists, while Stagg added seven points, a team-high five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
For Washington, sophomore Cameo Hicks had 14 points, while sophomore Jill Bell was the team's leading rebounder with a game-high six rebounds.
The Sun Devils shot 61.2 percent (30 of 49) from the field -- their best percentage of the conference season and second-best outing of the season -- to overcome 27 turnovers. The Huskies committed 24 turnovers themselves, which ASU converted into 27 points. UW made 18 of 59 field goals (30.5 percent) and had just 48 points against the conference's best scoring defense, which came into the game allowing 53.6 points per game. That marked the sixth time this year that ASU has held a Pac-10 opponent to 50 points or less.
ASU returns to action on Saturday afternoon, playing host to Washington State (6-20, 2-15) for its Pac-10 regular-season finale. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. Mountain Time, and the game can be heard on locally on NBC 1190 AM or via the internet at www.thesundevils.com with Jeff Munn and Seth Sulka calling the action.
The Sun Devils will honor their four outstanding senior guards - Betsy Boardman, Carrie Buckner, Kylan Loney and Lauren Stagg, prior to Saturday's game with the Cougars.