Dec. 7, 2004
ATHENS, Ga. - Senior Kylan Loney drained five three-pointers to lead Arizona State to a 67-57 upset of No. 11/14 Georgia Tuesday night at Georgia's Stegeman Coliseum. With the victory, Arizona State won its sixth straight game and improved to 7-1 on the year, while Georgia fell to 5-3 overall.
"It was a great game. It was well-fought, and both teams played their hearts out," said Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne. "We're a veteran team and we got some great shooting and leadership tonight."
After taking an 11-10 lead early, the Sun Devils fell behind 24-13 with 6:04 to play in the first half after allowing the Lady Bulldogs to go on a 14-2 run. ASU narrowed the gap to just one point over the final six minutes of the half, beginning a comeback with a long-range three-pointer by senior Betsy Boardman and a jumper by sophomore Alisha Godette. The Sun Devils went into the locker room down 26-25 at halftime after scoring the final four points of the period. ASU shot just 30.3 percent in the first half but forced Georgia into 14 turnovers.
In the second half, Loney knocked down a three-pointer on ASU's opening possession to give the Sun Devils a two-point lead, but Georgia scored the next six points to take a 32-28 advantage two minutes in the half. Loney and the Sun Devils, however, scored the next 12 points of the half to take a 40-32 lead with 13:27 to play. Loney drained two treys in that stretch to give Arizona State a lead the team would not relinquish.
ASU knocked down 5-of-7 three-pointers and shot 50.0 percent from the field in the second half en route to the 67-57 victory.
Loney scored a season-high 23 points in the victory, draining 5-of-9 three-point attempts, while senior Carrie Buckner and sophomore Emily Westerberg each had 10 points. Buckner led the team with seven rebounds, while Loney and sophomore Aubree Johnson each had three assists.
The Sun Devils scored 30 points off of 24 Georgia turnovers to overcome 58.5 shooting by the Lady Bulldogs.
Georgia freshman Tasha Humphrey led the Lady Bulldogs with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Arizona State next takes a week off for final exams before returning to the road, traveling to Albuquerque, N.M., to take on New Mexico on Saturday, Dec. 18. The Sun Devils will then wrap up the non-conference season with a Dec. 21 match-up with three-time defending NCAA champion and eighth-ranked Connecticut at Wells Fargo Arena.
Tickets for the UConn game are on sale now and can be purchased at the Sun Devil ticket office or by calling (480) 965-2381.
All of ASU's games can be heard locally on NBC 1190 AM or on the internet at www.thesundevils.com with Jeff Munn and Seth Sulka calling the action.