Dec. 8, 1999
TEMPE, Ariz.-Four Sun Devils scored in double figures to lead the Arizona State women's basketball team to a 76-52 victory over intrastate rival Northern Arizona Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Arena. Arizona State improved to 6-1 on the season, their best start since 1991-92, in its final nonconference home game, while the Lumberjacks fell to 1-5 on the year.
Arizona State drained a season-high seven three-pointers, including a season-best two treys from both junior Liz Paulson (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and freshman Sarah Allen (Cincinnati, Ohio), en route to its biggest victory of the year. All nine Sun Devils who appeared in the game put points on the board for the second straight game, while sophomore Theresa Jantzen (Medicine Hat, Alberta) led the team with 16 points in just 16 minutes despite battling a sprained ankle. Jantzen hit all four of her field goal attempts and was a perfect four-of-four from the free throw line on the night.
The Sun Devils shot 53.3 percent in the first half to build a 45-27 halftime lead, including an impressive 6-of-11 performance from three-point land. Jantzen scored 12 points in 11 minutes of action in the first stanza, while Paulson hit both of her three-pointers in the half. In the second half, Arizona State continued its strong offensive performance, shooting 50 percent to finish the game at 51.8 percent (29-56).
Senior Kristine Sand (Oslo, Norway) narrowly missed her first double-double of the season for the Sun Devils with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Allen also chipped in 13 points. Senior Rachel Holt (Buckeye, Ariz.) had 12 points, while senior Kitch Kitchen (Newark, N.J.) led the squad with a career-best seven assists.
The Sun Devils take 10 days off to prepare for finals and return to action when the team travels to the state of Texas to take on the University of Texas-San Antonio (Dec. 19) and the University of Texas in Austin (Dec. 21). Both games will tip off at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard Time and can be heard on KTKP 1280 AM with Robby Robinson calling the action.
ASU returns to Wells Fargo Arena for its Pac-10 Conference season opener on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. against the No. 22/23 Stanford Cardinal.