Nov. 26, 2000
HONOLULU (AP) - Three Sun Devils scored in double figures as the Arizona State women's basketball team fell to No. 22 North Carolina State 54-51 Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the Asahi Rainbow Wahine Classic held Nov. 24-26 at the University of Hawaii's Stan Sheriff Center.
Freshman Betsy Boardman led the runner-up Sun Devils with 16 points, while junior Amanda Levens had 13 points and junior Melody Johnson scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds. Levens also led the team with three assists. For NC State (4-2 on the season), tournament MVP Tynesha Lewis led the game with 17 points, while the Wolfpack's Adeola Olenrewaju had 12 rebounds.
Levens and Johnson were each named to the Rainbow Wahine Classic All-Tournament team for the Sun Devils who lost their first game of the season and are now 4-1 on the year.
"It was great for us to show some toughness early in the season," Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We would have liked to get our offense going a little better, but I think fatigue from playing three sttright days got the best of us a little. We weren't quite as focused and never got into any kind of flow on offense. We played some really good basketball this weekend. It was a golden opportunity and it was a big challenge to come back on the third day with the same team defense. We fell a little short of that challenge, but there were a lot of positives."
Arizona State kept the game close in the first half, despite being outshot 39.1 percent to 46.9 percent from the field in the first half. The 22nd-ranked Wolfpack held a 27-18 lead with 3:55 left in the first half, their largest of the stanza, but the Sun Devils got within one with 1:45 to play on the strength of a pair of free throws each by Levens and senior Natalie Tucker and a two baskets by Boardman. NC State then scored a pair of baskets of its own to hold a 31-26 halftime lead. For ASU, Boardman was 4-of-5 from the field and scored 10 points in the first half.
In the second half, the Sun Devils narrowed the gap to just two points on two occasions early, but the Wolfpack took advantage of a 13-2 run to take a 48-35 advantage with 11:00 to play in the game, their largest lead of the day. NC State led by 10 points with 4:27 to play (54-44), but the Sun Devils ended the game on a a 7-0 run to get within three points (54-51) when junior Leah Combs scored on a putback with 1:12 to play. ASU had an opportunity to score at the end but fell short to give NC State the 54-51 victory and the Rainbow Wahine Classic Championship.
Arizona State returns to action Friday, Dec. 1 vs. LaSalle in the ASU Holiday Classic at Wells Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils will take on the Explorers at 5 p.m. Friday night followed by a matchup between Kent State and UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. The ASU Holiday Classic will then wrap up on Sunday, Dec. 3 with the consolation game at 1 p.m. and the championship final at 3 p.m.
All of ASU's games can be heard live in the Valley of the Sun on XTRA 910 AM or on Arizona State's official website at www.thesundevils.com.