Jan. 31, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Junior Kylan Loney scored a career-high 32 points as Arizona State held off a late Arizona rally for a 68-60 win Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Pac-10 play.
With the victory, which is ASU's fourth straight win over the Wildcats at Wells Fargo Arena, Arizona State improved to 13-6 overall and 7-3 in the Pac-10. Arizona had its four-game winning streak snapped and fell to 16-5 and 8-2 in conference play.
After trailing by a small margin for much of the first half, Loney and the Sun Devils took over with the Ames, Iowa, native knocking down three-pointers on three straight possessions to erase a four-point deficit and give ASU a 16-13 lead with 11:12 to play. After Arizona junior Dee-Dee Wheeler tied things up with a layup at 21, Arizona State finished the half on a 21-5 run and taking a 41-26 halftime lead.
Loney had 22 of her 32 points in the first half, knocking down 4-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc. Her 32-point effort marked the first 30-point game for a Sun Devil since two-time All-Pac-10 guard Amanda Levens had 30 in ASU's 2001-02 season-opener against St. Peter's.
ASU scored the first eight points of the second half and led 49-26 with 17:44 to play, but Arizona took advantage of eight ASU turnovers and went on a 19-4 run to cut the lead to eight points seven minutes later. The Wildcats got within four, 57-53, with 4:49 to play. Loney answered with her career-best fifth three-pointer on the next possession, and Arizona never got closer.
Wheeler had 11 of her 22 points in the second half for the Wildcats, but ASU held sophomore Shawntinice Polk, the league's sixth-best scorer and second-best rebounder, without a point or rebound in the second half.
Sophomore Kristen Kovesdy added 12 points and eight rebounds for Arizona State, which has won five of its last six and is 9-1 at home this season.
Wheeler had 22 points to lead the Wildcats, while sophomore Natalie Jones added 14 points.
The Wildcats shot 39.3 percent from the field, (22-56), well under their conference-best average of 46.2 percent, while the Sun Devils shot 53.5 percent from the field (23-43). ASU also held Arizona to 60 points, 12.7 below the team's season average of 72.7 points per game.
Arizona State wraps up its three-game homestand next weekend, playing host to California on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. and No. 8 Stanford on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Both games 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 be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net.