Jan. 20, 2001
LOS ANGELES -- Three Sun Devils scored in double figures led by junior Amanda Levens with 15 points as the Arizona State women's basketball team defeated USC 66-59 Saturday night at the Lyon Center in Los Angeles.
With the victory, Arizona State completed its first Pac-10 Conference road sweep since 1992-93 and notched its first sweep over the Los Angeles schools since the 1981-82 season. On Thursday night, the Sun Devils downed the UCLA Bruins 78-68 at Pauley Pavilion, snapping a seven-game losing streak to the Bruins and earning the team's first victory on UCLA's court since the 1991-92 campaign.
With the win, Arizona State improved to 12-6 overall and 4-2 in the Pac-10, while USC fell to 6-9 overall and 1-4 in conference play. The victory also marked the Sun Devils' third consecutive road win and fourth on the season.
ASU jumped ahead quickly, taking a 18-8 lead in the first nine minutes of the game. The Women of Troy pulled within three (15-18) at the 8:25 mark but turned the ball over eight times in the remainder of the half. ASU took a 32-24 advantage into the locker room at halftime after shooting 54.2 percent in the first 20 minutes, the team's second-best first-half effort of the season.
In the second half, the Sun Devils stepped up their defense, holding USC scoreless in the first four minutes to take a 41-26 lead. Led by freshman Ebony Hoffman, the Women of Troy got as close as five points 40-45 at the 11:26 mark and 49-44 at the 8:55 mark, but turnovers and missed shots down the stretch proved too much for the Women of Troy to overcome as the Sun Devils picked up their third victory in four games against the Trojans.
Levens led the Sun Devil squad with 15 points and four assists. Levens was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the game and has now drained her last 15 attempts from the charity stripe. Junior Melody Johnson had 14 points and tied USC's Aisha Hollans with a game-high nine rebounds. Freshman Betsy Boardman added 12 points and three steals, while junior Rainy Crisp turned in a career-best seven points.
Hoffman was the only one to score in double figures for USC with a game-high 19 points. She added a season-high four blocks as well as seven boards.
USC and ASU shot a comparable 43.6 and 44.4 percent and matched each other with 32 rebounds apiece. The Sun Devils turned in 13 steals and shot a season-high 80 percent from the free throw line, knocking down 16-of-20 attempts from the charity stripe.
Arizona State returns to action Saturday, Jan. 27 with a 7 p.m. match-up with intrastate rival Arizona at Wells Fargo Arena. For tickets, call the Arizona State ticket office at (480) 965-2381.