Feb. 25, 2011
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UP NEXT
The Arizona State women's basketball team closes out the home portion of its 2010-11 slate on Saturday (8:30 p.m. MT) when it hosts No. 11/9 UCLA in a contest being nationally televised by Fox Sports Net. The game will be the final at home for Sun Devil seniors Dymond Simon, Becca Tobin and Tenaya Watson.
The Sun Devils (17-8, 9-6 Pac-10) come into Saturday's game in sole possession of third place in the Pac-10 standings. ASU leads fourth-place USC (16-10, 8-7 Pac-10) by one game and also holds any potential tiebreakers over the Trojans after defeating USC 69-55 on Thursday night to sweep the season series.
Dymond Simon (22 points) and Kimberly Brandon (15 points) combined for 37 points in ASU's win over USC, which was ASU's third consecutive victory. A 17-7 run in the final 4:03 helped the Sun Devils turn a four-point advantage into a 14-point win. ASU's victory was keyed by a 21-of-23, 89-percent performance from the free throw line where Simon scored half of her points (11-12 FTs).
Without question the Sun Devils' top-notch resilience has been one of the most important factors during their current three-game winning streak. In the last nine minutes of their last three contests - at UW (+4 with 9 minutes left), at WSU (-6), vs USC (+3) - the Sun Devils have outscored the opposition a combined 73-44. ASU has shot 52 percent from the field and 89 percent from the line during that stretch while limiting its opponents to 33 percent shooting and zero 3-pointers.
After beginning the season 3-2 the Sun Devils went on a seven-game winning streak, which included a 79-66 win over current No. 7 DePaul and a 2-0 start in Pac-10 play. ASU then traveled to the Bay Area for its first Pac-10 road trip where it fell to both Cal and Stanford. The Sun Devils would then alternate wins and losses in their next eight games (4-4) before sweeping the Washington schools -- 71-63 at Washington and 55-47 at Washington State -- last week to capture their first consecutive wins since the opening weekend of Pac-10 play.
Saturday's game is a rematch of contest won by UCLA, 70-60, last month in Los Angeles. The sum of a dismal first-half shooting effort (6-24/25percent) combined with a 7-1 run by UCLA over the last 1:48 of the first half in which the Bruins doubled their six-point lead (23-17 to 30-18) equalled a big hill for ASU to climb. ASU's task would become even more difficult after the Bruins outscored ASU 18-9 over the first 8:26 of the second half to take a 48-27 lead. Although the Sun Devils never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way, they were much more effective on both ends of the floor over the last 11:03 as they outscored the Bruins 33-22. During that stretch the Sun Devils made 60 percent of their shots (9-15). ASU also clamped down defensively as they limited the Bruins, who shot 53 percent for the game, to 36 percent over the last 11 minutes.
Currently in the midst of its second consecutive 20-win season, UCLA (23-3, 13-2 Pac-10) clinched the No. 2 seed in next month's Pac-10 Tournament following its 74-70 win at Arizona on Thursday night. UCLA's only three setbacks this season have come via a two-point home loss against LSU in December and a pair of defeats to current second-ranked and Pac-10 leader Stanford (25-2, 16-0 Pac-10).
TELEVISION/RADIO
Saturday's game can be seen live on Fox Sports Net. Jim Watson (play by play) and Mary Murphy (analysis) will be calling the action.
The game can also be heard live on The Fan AM 1060. Pre-game coverage will begin at 8 p.m. Vince Marotta and former Sun Devil women's basketball head coach Maura McHugh will have the call.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
ASU has won 73 percent of its Pac-10 contests (77-28) since the 2005-06 season.
Since 2004 ASU has won 84 percent (88-17) of the games it has played at Wells Fargo Arena.
Although UCLA has won 44 of the 69 all-time meetings, ASU has been relatively successful against the Bruins in recent years with wins in 11 of the last 16 games. UCLA's win in the first meeting of 2009-10 in Tempe broke a seven-game ASU winning streak. The Bruins have won the last three meetings, most recently a 70-60 victory last month in Los Angeles.
ASU is 15-2 this season when it has outrebounded the opposition (2-6 when it hasn't). ASU is also 14-1 in games it has led at the half.
ASU is 4-0 this season in games decided by three points or less. In those contests ASU has shown a trend of stepping up when it matters most as it has shot 56 percent in the last five minutes of those games while limiting the opposition to 34 percent. And speaking of stepping up, senior F Becca Tobin is shooting 63 percent from the field in the second half of Pac-10 games.
ASU is currently second in the Pac-10 in free throw shooting percentage (.726) while Tenaya Watson (.813) and Dymond Simon (.802) are Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in the league. ASU has shot a combined 91 percent (32-35) from the line in the last five minutes of its last 3 games.
ASU has held the opposition to 56 or fewer points 12 times this season.
ASU has had 15 or fewer turnovers 10 times this season with eight of those instances coming in its last 15 games. ASU has established a new season low in turnovers in each of its last two games -- 12 at Washington State and 11 vs. USC.
Junior F Kimberly Brandon is averaging 16.3 points (17-28 FGs/61 percent and 14-15 FTs/93 percent) and 8.3 rebounds during ASU's current 3-game winning streak. In addition, she is shooting 88 percent from the line (23-26 FTs) in ASU's last 8 games.
Becca Tobin has averaged 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting 50 percent (24-48) from the field in ASU's last 5 games. Currently with 93 career blocks, Tobin needs six more rejections to tie former Sun Devil Fran Ciak (1987-90) for second place on ASU's all-time list.
Senior G Dymond Simon has averaged 16.4 points in her last 8 games and is shooting 54 percent (13-24) from 3-point range in her last 6 games.
ASU began the week No. 38 in the NCAA's RPI standings. The Sun Devils have a pair of Top 30 RPI wins (DePaul - currently No. 8 and USC - currently No. 26). Five of ASU's eight losses are to teams in the top 12 of the RPI -- Tennessee (No. 2), Stanford (2x - No. 5), UCLA (No. 7) and Florida State (No. 12).