Jan. 18, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Arizona State's noisiest home game was also one of its best.
Danielle Orsillo scored 16 points to lead five Arizona State players in double figures and the 10th-ranked Sun Devils routed UCLA 92-52 on Thursday.
Aubree Johnson added 15 points, Dymond Simon 14, Jill Noe 13 and Briann January 10 for the Sun Devils in a game played in front of several thousand enthusiastic fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders on "Sparky's Kids to College Field Trip."
"Let's have a field trip day every game," Johnson said. "It was awesome."
With the kids cheering them on, the Sun Devils (17-2, 7-1 Pac-10) led by as many as 24 in the first half and 44 in the second, handing UCLA (9-11, 3-5) its most one-sided loss of the season.
"I felt like I was at home because of the screaming children," said ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne, who has three young sons. "It was great."
The Sun Devils, who play USC on Sunday, shot 59 percent in their fifth straight win and 32nd regular-season home victory in their last 33 tries. The Bruins shot just 33 percent and committed 25 turnovers in their fourth loss in five games.
"That's the Sun Devils operating on pretty close to all cylinders," Turner Thorne said. "Now the challenge is to bring that again for our next game because we've had a tendency to let up defensively in those second games."
Lindsey Pluimer led UCLA with 17 points. Noelle Quinn added 13 but made just 5-of-18 shots.
Turner Thorne said the defense against Quinn was crucial.
"She's one of the best players in the country but we didn't allow her to be that today," the Sun Devils' coach said.
It was the first meeting of the two teams since the Bruins beat Arizona State in the semifinals of last year's Pac-10 tournament.
UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said she will reserve judgment on just how good the Sun Devils are until her team plays them in Los Angeles.
"They're very comfortable at home," she said, "and they just get it done."
She said the Bruins wanted to use their height advantage against the Sun Devils.
"But their perimeter defense is so disruptive it's hard to get the ball inside," Olivier said.
The balanced scoring showed Arizona State's depth.
"That's what is so great about this team," Orsillo said. "We don't rely on just a couple of players and everybody has everybody else's back."
The Sun Devils made 11 of their first 12 shots, 4-of-4 by January, to bolt to a 25-10 lead on Jill Noe's 3-pointer with 12:42 left in the half. It was never close after that.
The lead reached 37-13 after Johnson made two free throws with 4:22 to go in the half.
Seven players scored as Arizona State took a 46-23 lead at the break. Orsillo led with 10 first-half points, followed by January and Simon with eight apiece. The Sun Devils shot 56 percent in the first half (19-for-34) compared with 28 percent for the Bruins (8-for-29).
Arizona State opened the second half with a 15-4 run to make it 61-29 on Noe's two free throws 14:51 from the finish. The biggest lead was 84-42 on Johnson's two free throws with 5:31 to play.
The victory gave Arizona State a 50-3 record in regular-season home games since the 2003-04 season. The Sun Devils' losses this year were at No. 9 Stanford and at home to No. 4 Tennessee.
UCLA's previous worst loss this season was 83-60 at Tennessee.
It was not the Sun Devils' most one-sided victory of the season. They beat Nicholls State and Washington State by 45.
The game began at 11 a.m., MST, as part of the kids' field trip.