Feb. 9, 2002
SEATTLE, Wash. - Senior Melody Johnson turned in her second straight double-double, but it wasn't enough to stop the streaking Washington Huskies who earned a 68-50 win over Arizona State in Seattle on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies moved a half-game ahead of ASU for second place in the Pac-10 and improved to 15-8 overall and 10-4 in the Pac-10, while the Sun Devils dropped to 19-7 and 10-5 in conference action and wrapped up a stretch that saw them play six of their last eight games on the road.
The Huskies jumped out to a quick start en route to their fifth straight win, leading 9-2, after sophomore guard Giuliana Mendiola buried a three-pointer at the 15-minute mark. The game see-sawed back and forth until junior Kellie O'Neill closed the half with a layup and a three-pointer to put the Huskies up by 11 with under a minute to go. ASU's Betsy Boardman hit a jumper with five seconds remaining and Washington took a 33-24 lead at the break.
Junior Loree Payne opened the second half with a three-point basket and senior Emily Autrey added a bucket and a free throw to increase the lead to 15, 39-27, at 18:57. Boardman responded with her own three-pointer and Johnson collected a rebound and basket to cut the margin to 10 points, 39-29, at 17:38 but that was as close as the Sun Devils would get.
A three-pointer from O'Neill followed by another from Payne gave the Huskies their largest lead of the game, 61-41, with 6:31 remaining.
Senior Cian Carvalho led ASU with 15 points, while Johnson added her fifth double-double of the season and her second in as many games with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Payne led Washington in scoring, tallying a game-high 20 points on 8-of-15 from the field, including three three-pointers. Mendiola added 15 points and seven assists, while O'Neill was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field with seven rebounds to highlight the effort.
Arizona State returns home to Wells Fargo Arena this weekend, hosting USC on Thursday night at 7 p.m. and UCLA at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. The Sun Devils will honor their five seniors - Cian Carvalho, Leah Combs, Rainy Crisp, Melody Johnson and Amanda Levens - at Saturday's game against UCLA, which is ASU's last home game of the season.