BERKELEY, Calif. – Katie Hempen scored 14 of her game-high 17 points in the second half and the No. 9 Arizona State women’s basketball team remained tied for first place in the Pac-12 after defeating Cal 64-49 on Friday.
Sophie Brunner (scored all 11 of her points in the second half, seven rebounds) and Arnecia Hawkins (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Sun Devils (21-4, 12-1 Pac-12), who outscored Cal 22-11 in the third quarter to break open what was a tie game at the half.
ASU shot 39 percent for the game and outrebounded Cal 32-29. Kelsey Moos led ASU’s effort on the glass with eight rebounds, including a team-high four rebounds on the offensive end. The Sun Devils scored 17 second-chance points off of their 14 offensive boards.
Oakland native Elisha Davis, who originally came to ASU from Berkeley High School, scored eight points and had a team-high seven assists.
The Sun Devils also received a lift from their bench. Leading the way was Kianna Ibis, who tied her career high in scoring with eight of ASU’s 16 bench points.
Cal (11-13, 2-11 Pac-12) was paced by Courtney Range, who had 14 points. Also contributing double-digit scoring totals were Mikayla Cowling (11 points) and Gabby Green and MaAne Mosley, who had 10 points each.
Hempen (14 points) and Brunner (11 points) accounted for 25 of ASU’s 38 points in the second half. Coming off a second quarter in which they made only 15 percent of their shots and were outscored 11-5, the Sun Devils came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter. After the two teams split the first 10 points of the quarter, the Sun Devils erupted for 13 straight points in the short span of 2:22 to take a commanding 44-31 lead.
Hempen scored eight points on the scoring run, including back-to-back 3-pointers that swelled ASU’s advantage from four to 10 points. Later in the quarter a layup by Ibis gave the Sun Devils their largest lead of the game, 48-34.
ASU shot 50 percent from the floor in the third quarter and scored eight points off of Cal’s five turnovers.
The Bears would cut ASU’s lead to eight, 57-49, after a jumper by Range with 3:18 remaining. However Cal would get no closer as the Sun Devils closed the game with a 7-0 run over the last 3:18 of the game to improve to 9-1 in road games this season (19-2 last two seasons).
Hempen, who last week became ASU’s all-time leader in career 3-pointers, knocked down five from long range against Cal (one short of matching her career high). It’s the 10th time this season that Hempen has made three or more 3-pointers in a game.
With its win on Friday, ASU remained in a tie for first place in the Pac-12 with No. 8 Oregon State (21-3, 12-1). The Sun Devils and Beavers lead No. 13 Stanford (20-5, 10-3) and No. 14 UCLA (18-6, 10-3) by two games.
The Sun Devils conclude their weekend trip to the Bay Area on Sunday (6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT) when they take on Stanford. The game can be seen live on Pac-12 Networks and heard on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060.