Dec. 29, 2002
BERKELEY, Calif. - Freshman Jill Noe scored a career-high 21 points and freshman Amy Denson turned in her second double-double of the year, but the Arizona State women's basketball team fell 72-67 to California Sunday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.
The loss was Arizona State's second consecutive defeat, its first back-to-back losses of the year, while the Sun Devils fell to 8-3 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-10. Cal turned in its first Pac-10 victory of the year and improved to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in the league.
The Sun Devils held a slim lead for most of the first half, going up 14-8 with 14:45 to play. Cal answered with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 14 with 12:35 and again at 16 two minutes later. Arizona State pushed its lead to as many as seven midway through the half and led 38-32 with 1:57 to play in the half after a three-pointer by Noe. The Golden Bears, however, scored the final four points of the half, and ASU held a slim 38-36 lead at halftime. Noe led all scorers with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, ASU went up by five points early, but the Golden Bears outscored the Sun Devils 15-4 over the next five minutes to take a 52-47 lead with 13:22 to play. The game see-sawed over the next 10 minutes with five lead changes and five ties until Cal pulled ahead for good, taking a 65-64 lead with 1:48 to play. The Golden Bears sealed the victory with by knocking down 7-of-10 free throws over the final 1:48 to come away with the 72-67 win and snap a five-game losing skid to the Sun Devils.
Noe led all scorers with a career-best 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Denson turned in her second double-double of the year with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Sun Devils. Noe had three steals, while sophomore Kylan Loney and junior Iman Young each had four assists. For Cal, LaTasha O'Keith led four Golden Bears in double figures with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
Arizona State returns home to Wells Fargo Arena for the first time since Dec. 9 this weekend, playing host to Oregon State on Thursday, Jan. 2 at 6 p.m. and Oregon on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 3 p.m. All of ASU's games can be heard locally on KUET 710 AM or via the internet at www.thesundevils.com, while Saturday's game with Oregon will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net.