Dec. 6, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - Junior Kylan Loney scored 13 points to lead the Arizona State Sun Devils (4-2) to a 73-44 win over Binghamton (4-2) in the championship game of the Wells Fargo Holiday Classic Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
Junior Betsy Boardman was named the tournament MVP, while Loney and sophomore YoVanna Rosenthal were both named to the all-tournament team. With the victory, the Sun Devils won their own tournament for the third straight season and the 13th time in school history. Joining the ASU trio on the all-tournament team were Montana State's Sheila Hutchinson, Western Michigan's Casey Rost and Binghamton's Rachel Laws.
Arizona State pulled away early in the first half, building a 28-18 lead midway through the first half. Loney had all 13 of her points in the first half, knocking down 3-of-4 three-pointers, to give ASU a 43-27 halftime advantage.
In the second half, the Sun Devils opened the period with a 20-4 run to take a 63-31 lead with 8:58 to play and never looked back. Rosenthal provided a big spark off the bench for the Sun Devils in the second half, scoring six of her 10 points and turning in two assists and three steals in the final 20 minutes to help ASU to the 73-44 win.
Arizona State outrebounded Binghamton 47-27 in the victory, marking the second straight night that the team has turned in a commanding advantage on the boards after outrebounding Western Michigan 50-26 in the first game of the tournament on Friday night.
Loney finished the game with a team-high 13 points, shooting 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point land. Rosenthal had 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, three assists and four steals, while Boardman finished with seven points, nine rebounds and four assists.
For Binghamton, sophomore Rachel Laws led the team in scoring and rebounding for the second straight night, turning 14 points and seven rebounds.
In the consolation game, Western Michigan (3-3) turned in an 84-62 win over Montana State (5-2). Western Michigan's Casey Rost led all scorings with 24 points, while Sheila Hutchinson had 15 points and eight rebounds to pace the Montana State squad.
Arizona State returns to action on Wednesday night, playing host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena. All of ASU's home games be heard locally with Vince Marotta and Kayte Christensen calling the action on ASU's flagship station, NBC 1190 AM, or via the internet at www.thesundevils.com.