Jan. 10, 1998
ASU Women Down WSU 80-60, Win 2nd Straight Pac-10 Game
TEMPE, Ariz.-- Two days after serving a one-game suspension, senior forward Stephanie Freeman (Austin, Texas) scored a career-high 25 points to lead ASU to an 80-60 victory over Washington State (7-5, 1-2 Pac-10) Saturday night in the University Activity Center.
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| Stephanie Freeman poured in a career-high 25 points for the Sun Devils. (File Photo) |
Arizona State's (6-7, 2-2) last pair of back-to-back conference wins came in 1996, also against Washington and Washington State. The 20-point win also qualified as ASU's largest margin of victory in a Pac-10 game since the 1992-93 season, when the Sun Devils defeated the Cougars 88-68.
"We just beat a solid team and are slowly but surely arriving where we want to be," said ASU Coach Charli Turner Thorne. "Stephanie (Freeman) gave us a tremendous game. Maybe the two-day vacation was ironic. It may have played in our favor. This was a true team win. We played outstanding defense tonight."
The Cougars, who trailed 46-25 at the intermission, outscored ASU 36-35 in the second stanza. But Washington State never came closer than 20 points in the final 20 minutes. The Sun Devils took their biggest lead (31 points) on a layup by freshman Kellie McDanal (Conifer, Colo.) with 4:48 remaining.
Washington State trailed by just four six minutes into the game, but a 12-4 ASU run put the Sun Devils ahead 24-12 with 8:10 left in the first period. Freeman added seven points in the run. Freshman guard Leaf Newman (Perris, Calif.) then added back-to-back three-pointers and the Sun Devils were out front 30-14.
Newman finished with a career-high 18 points and career-high equaling seven rebounds. Freeman added a game-high tying seven boards and finished 9-of-16 from the field. Junior guards Michelle Tom (Winslow, Ariz.) and Rechelle Lang (TeKuiti, New Zealand) each contributed six assists.
Jennifer Kerns finished with 16 points to pace the Cougars, and Alke Dietel grabbed a game-high tying seven rebounds. Washington State committed 30 turnovers to ASU's 23. The Cougars shot 35.0 percent to the Sun Devils' 41.5. The squads were near even on the boards, as ASU posted 43 rebounds to WSU's 42.
The Sun Devils return to action Saturday, Jan. 17, when they host 10th-ranked Arizona at 2 p.m.