March 10, 2011
UP NEXT
The Arizona State women's basketball team continues play in the 2011 Pacific Life Pac-10 Basketball Tournament on Thursday (3 p.m. PT/4 pm. MT) when it faces sixth-seeded California with a berth in Friday's semifinals on the line.
ASU advanced to Thursday's game with a 50-44 win over Oregon State on Wednesday, its second win over the Beavers in five days. Dymond Simon scored 13 points, Tenaya Watson added nine points and Becca Tobin had eight for ASU, which held decisive advantages in points off turnovers (23-11), second chance points (11-0) and bench points (14-2).
ASU entered this year's tournament as the No. 3 seed while Cal came in as the No. 6 seed. The Sun Devils closed the Pac-10 regular season by winning six of their last eight contests to secure their ninth top-3 finish in the last 11 years.
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. 9 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 finishing the Pac-10 season with wins in six of their final eight games.
Cal (16-14, 7-11 Pac-10) has won two of its last three contests. The Golden Bears defeated Washington 58-48 in their first round game on Wednesday night. Layshia Clarendon (16 points, 10 rebounds), DeNesha Stallworth (12 points, six rebounds) and Talia Caldwell (11 points, 13 rebounds) combined for 39 of Cal's 59 points and 29 of its 47 rebounds.
ASU and Cal split their two regular season meetings. In the first game ASU had its season-best seven-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Bears, 67-55 in Berkeley. ASU never led in the game and trailed Cal by as many as 14 points in the first half and by as many as 12 in the second half. Cal shot 50 percent from the field, outrebounded ASU 39-25 and was very efficient in the paint where it outscored the Sun Devils 36-22.
In the second meeting Tobin (12 points, 6-8 FGs), guard Deja Mann (8 points, 3-5 FGs) and Bennett (7 points, 2-2 FGs, 2-2 FTs) combined to score 27 of ASU's 32 second half points while shooting an aggregate 73 percent (11-15 FGs) to help ASU overcome a 12-point deficit and beat the Golden Bears 45-44. Mann, who scored all eight of her points in the second half, would provide the theatrics in the win as she hit a 3-pointer while under duress as time expired to give ASU the win.
After shooting 17 percent and scoring 13 points in the first half, the Sun Devils came back to shoot 54 percent in the second half, including 80 percent (4-5) from beyond the arc. Behind 36-26, the Sun Devils would outscore Cal 19-8 over the last 9:01 of the game, They would shoot 67 percent (8-12) during that stretch while limiting the Golden Bears to 30 percent (3-10).
Simon, ASU's leading scorer, played with an injured foot in the first meeting against Cal and missed the rematch while recovering from a concussion.
The winner of Thursday's game will advance to Friday's (2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT) semifinal round where it will meet second-seeded UCLA (ASU 0-2 vs. UCLA in 2011)..
RADIO/LIVE STREAMING
Thursday's game can be heard live on 1440 AM KAZG. Coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Valley. Veteran broadcaster and the state of Arizona's 2010 Broadcaster of the Year Jeff Munn is in his seventh season as the voice of ASU women's basketball.
Live streaming of the game can be seen on the Pac-10's youtube page:
YouTube.com/Pac10Conference.