Feb. 27, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - Freshman Jill Noe turned in her fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Arizona State women's basketball team to a 61-47 victory over California Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
With the victory, Arizona State improved to 15-11 on the season and 7-10 in the Pac-10, while Cal fell to 9-17 and 5-12 in league play. ASU also snapped a three-game losing streak and won their fourth straight home game.
Arizona State took control of the game midway through the first half, using an 11-2 run to take a 19-10 lead with 8:18 to play, including four points from freshman Jenny Thigpin. ASU held a 23-13 lead with 4:37 remaining in the half, but the Bears forced three ASU turnovers and scored the next eight points to cut the Sun Devil lead to two points, 23-21, with 1:46 left in the half. The Sun Devils, however, knocked down the final four points of the period to take a 27-21 halftime lead. Thigpin had seven points and four rebounds in the first half to lead the Sun Devils.
The Sun Devils came out strong in the second half, scoring the first six points of the half on layups by sophomore Carrie Buckner and freshmen Amy Denson and Noe to take a 33-21 lead with 18:20 to play. Cal cut the lead to eight points on four occasions but never got any closer. The Sun Devils took their largest lead of the ball game when sophomore Kylan Loney knocked down a pair of free throws and then hit her second three-pointer of the game to give the Sun Devils a 59-44 lead. ASU held Cal without a basket over the final 6:07 en route to the 61-47 win.
Noe led the Sun Devils in scoring and rebounding with 12 points and 11 rebounds for her team-leading fifth double-double of the year and added four steals. Thigpin finished with nine points and five rebounds, while sophomore Lauren Stagg pulled down a career-best six rebounds.
For Cal, sophomore Kiki Williams led all scorers with 16 points, while junior Olga Volkova added eight rebounds.
ASU outrebounded Cal 44-34 and held the Bears to 29.6 percent shooting from the field.
The Sun Devils wrap up the regular season Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena, playing host to No. 9 Stanford at 3 p.m. AZ-TV will televise the match-up with the Cardinal, while the game can also heard on ASU's flagship station, NBC 1190 AM, locally or via the internet at www.thesundevils.com.