Feb. 12, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - Junior Kristen Kovesdy scored 17 points to lead three Sun Devils in double figures as the Arizona State women's basketball team cruised to an 80-59 victory over UCLA Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
With the win, the Sun Devils improved to 17-7 overall and 9-5 in the Pac-10, while UCLA fell to 15-9 overall and 9-6 in the league. The victory also gave ASU a season sweep over the Bruins after the team turned in a 44-42 win at Pauley Pavilion in January.
ASU opened the game with a 6-0 run and never looked back. The Sun Devils took control of the game for good with a 15-1 run to go up 23-7 with 4:28 to play. Senior Betsy Boardman led the Sun Devils with 11 first-half points off the bench, including three three-pointers, as ASU cruised to a 33-17 halftime lead.
ASU scored the first four points in the second half to go up by 20 points, 37-17 with 19:19 to play. The Bruins never got closer than 17 points in the contest. The Sun Devils led by as many as 32 points en route to the 80-59 victory, the most points scored by the team in a Pac-10 Conference game this season.
After going scoreless but pulling down seven rebounds in the first half, sophomore Emily Westerberg finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the first double-double of her career and ASU's second this season. Kovesdy led the team with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while Boardman finished with a season-high 16 points, going 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point land. Senior Lauren Stagg tied her career high with eight points, while Stagg and sophomore Aubree Johnson each had six rebounds for ASU.
The Sun Devils shot 52.9 percent in the game and outrebounded the Bruins 43-28.
Junior Nikki Blue had a season-high 32 points, but junior Lisa Willis, who got her 12th and 13th points on free throws with 13 seconds left, was the only other Bruin in double figures. Blue, who had only five points at halftime, scored 12 in the first 6:05 of the second half but couldn't match the Sun Devils' balanced offense.
ASU travels to the state of Oregon next week, taking on Oregon on Thursday, Feb. 17 and Oregon State on Saturday, Feb. 19. Both games tip off at 8 p.m. Mountain Time (7 p.m. Pacific) and can be heard on locally on NBC 1190 AM or via the internet at www.thesundevils.com with Jeff Munn and Seth Sulka calling the action.