Feb. 5, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Junior Carrie Buckner turned in a season-high 15 points to lead Arizona State to a 62-43 victory over California Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
The win was the season-high fourth consecutive victory for the Sun Devils who improved to 14-6 overall and 8-3 in the Pac-10, while California fell to 9-12 and 2-10 in league play. ASU has won six of its last seven games and improved to 10-1 at Wells Fargo Arena this season.
Cal led 17-14 with 9:35 to play in the first half, but Arizona State used a 10-0 run to take a 24-17 advantage with 6:10 left. Buckner and sophomore YoVanna Rosenthal each had four points in the Sun Devil run. ASU led by as many as 10 points and took a 32-24 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, Arizona State opened the game up right away, scoring 13 of the first 17 points of the half to take a 47-28 lead with 12:46 to play. Junior Betsy Boardman and sophomore Amy Denson each knocked down a three-pointer in the Sun Devil run. Arizona State allowed Cal to cut the lead to 16 after turning the ball over four times but went on another run, this time a 9-0 spurt, to go up 60-35 with 2:44 to play en route to the 62-43 victory.
Buckner tied her season high with 15 points, while sophomore Kristen Kovesdy went 6-of-6 from the field and had 14 points in the game. Junior Lauren Stagg led the Sun Devils with a game-high six assists and only one turnover, while Boardman finished with eight points, five assists and four steals.
For Cal, junior Kristin Iwanaga had 11 points, knocking down three three-pointers in the game.
Arizona State shot 50 percent from the field (24-48) to just 29.8 percent from Cal (14-47) and outrebounded the Golden Bears 36-25.
The Sun Devils also held Cal to a season-low 43 points, the lowest point total for a Sun Devil opponent since ASU turned in a 64-42 victory over UCLA on Feb. 16, 2002.
Arizona State wraps up a three-game homestand on Saturday afternoon, playing host to seventh-ranked Stanford at 1 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena. Stanford fell to 17-4 and 10-2 in the Pac-10 after an 88-83 defeat at Arizona on Thursday night in Tucson.
Saturday's game can be heard locally on ASU's flagship station, NBC 1190 AM, or via the internet at www.thesundevils.com with Vince Marotta and Kayte Christensen calling the action. The Stanford game will also be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net.