Jan. 26, 2005
TUCSON, Ariz. - Three Sun Devils scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough as Arizona State fell at Arizona 56-49 Wednesday night at the McKale Center.
With the loss, Arizona State fell to 14-6 overall and 6-4 in the Pac-10, while Arizona improved to 15-5 and 7-3 in league play.
After Arizona took an early 4-0 lead, the Sun Devils scored eight of the next 11 points to take a 12-7 advantage with 13:53 to play. Arizona tied it up at 18 and scored the next five to go up 23-18 with 4:18 left in the opening frame. Senior Kylan Loney knocked down a three-pointer and then added a jumper to three seconds left to begin and end an 8-0 run that gave ASU a 26-23 halftime advantage. ASU shot 45.5 percent and outrebounded Arizona 19-12 in the first half.
Loney knocked down a jumper to put the Sun Devils up 29-23 at the beginning of the second half, but Arizona scored the next 17 points, including five from senior Dee-Dee Wheeler, to take a 40-29 lead with 10:19 to play. The Wildcats pushed their lead to 14 points, 46-32 with 6:49 to play. Loney and fellow senior Betsy Boardman knocked down a pair of three-pointers to cut the lead to eight.
The Sun Devils then pulled within three points, 52-49 with 57 seconds left in the game with an 11-6 run that included four points each from sophomore Emily Westerberg and junior Kristen Kovesdy. Arizona, however, knocked down all four of its free throw attempts over the final seconds and come away with the 56-49 victory.
Westerberg led the Sun Devils with 12 points, while Kovesdy and Loney each added 10. With her pair of three-pointers, Loney became ASU's career leader with 135 three-pointers made. Kovesdy and sophomore Aubree Johnson led the Sun Devils with seven rebounds apiece.
For Arizona, freshman guard Jessica Arnold led the team with 14 points, while Wheeler and Polk each had 11. The Sun Devils held the Wildcats to 56 points, 16 below their average of 73.0 per game, but couldn't overcome 19.4 percent shooting in the second half.
ASU returns to action next week, traveling to California on Thursday, Feb. 3 and to No. 4/2 Stanford on Saturday, Feb. 5. Both games can be heard on NBC 1190 AM or on the internet at www.thesundevils.com with Jeff Munn and Seth Sulka calling the action.
Fox Sports Net will televise the Stanford game to a national audience with tip-off scheduled for 12 p.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Mountain).