Dec. 22, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Emily Westerberg and the No. 10 Arizona Sun Devils beat the Arizona Wildcats at both ends of the court.
Westerberg scored 20 points to lead Arizona State to its seventh straight victory, 89-62 on Friday night in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.
Danielle Orsillo added 17 points, Jill Noe had 16 points and five rebounds for the Sun Devils (11-1). Joy Hollingsworth and Amina Njonkou each had 14 points for the Wildcats (6-7) in their fifth loss in seven games.
Arizona State's pressure defense forced Arizona into 31 turnovers, with the Sun Devils scoring 33 points off those mistakes.
"We've been real consistent at forcing 25-plus turnovers a game," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "Obviously that's a huge part of our offense. So I do think that was the highlight of the game for us. It allows us to get out and get our easy transition buckets."
Arizona State also held Arizona's second-leading scorer, Ashley Whisonant, scoreless until the 16:05 mark of the second half. She finished with seven points, four under her average.
"First half we played hard, we did not play very smart," Arizona coach Joan Bonvicini said. "Too much one-on-one, not disciplined enough, too many turnovers and too many fouls, second half we finally made some adjustments and slowed down."
Arizona State ran off 10 straight points to open up a 14-2 lead and used an 8-0 run to take a 26-6 lead with 10:34 left in the first half. The Sun Devils led 45-21 at the break and by as many as 31 in the second half. Arizona never got closer than 23 in the final 15 minutes.
"I think we both just came out just defensively minded," Noe said. "We were getting stops and no one was scoring. After that, we adjusted and got some buckets and then kept on attacking them."
The Wildcats missed nine of their first 11 shots and shot only 7-of-27 in the first half. The Sun Devils scored 13 points off Arizona's 19 first-half turnovers.
"I think we came out, not nervous, but real anxious," Hollingsworth said. "We got I don't know how many turnovers in the first half but I think we needed to calm down, that's what coach told us at halftime."
The Wildcats made 18-of-27 (67 percent) from the field in the second half. "We had way too many turnovers and we didn't execute," Bonvicini said. "They have a good team. They have a lot of different weapons."
"It's about knowing the other team," Westerberg said. "But once we know what the other team is doing and we know their game plan, then we know how we counter it." Arizona State has beaten Arizona three straight times and leads the series 39-25.
The Sun Devils have won their last four conference openers and have won 10 straight Pac-10 games dating to last season.