ASU women's basketball falls at Washington

January 07, 2010

The Arizona State women's basketball team's losing streak to start the Pac-10 portion of its season extended to three games on Thursday night. Washington senior guard Sami Whitcomb scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Huskies to a 62-56 win over the Sun Devils.<separator></separator>"It's very frustrating," ASU head coach <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/turnerthorne_charli00… Turner Thorne</a> said following the game. "This is unchartered territory for us. We talked about the importance of teamwork and working together and playing together, but we had too many lapses.<separator></separator>"I thought we played a tough preseason schedule to prepare us for Pac-10s. We played through things and now we are not doing that at all. We are just going to stay positive and keep coaching this group."<separator></separator>Junior <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/tobin_becca00.html">Be… Tobin</a> scored a career-high 19 points to lead the Sun Devils while senior <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/murphy_kayli01.html">K… Murphy</a> added 11.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils (8-6, 0-3 Pac-10) spent much of final 20 minutes fighting their way uphill after <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/watson_tenaya00.html">… Watson</a> and Tobin scored the first two field goals of the second half to tie the score at 34-34. The Huskies (7-6, 2-1 Pac-10) would respond by scoring the next six points before sophomore guard <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/earl_alex00.html">Alex Earl</a> hit a 3-pointer to cut Washington's lead in half 40-37. The Huskies would score nine of the next 14 points capped by a 3-pointer by Whitcomb which gave the Huskies a 49-42 lead with 5:45 remaining.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils would get as close as two after a steal and a layup by Watson cut Washington's lead to 54-52 with 2:45 left. However the Huskies would score eight of the next 10 points to put the game out of reach.<separator></separator>The first 20 minutes featured six ties and six lead changes as neither team was able to take control early. A jumper by Washington junior guard Christina Rozier at the 11-minute mark gave the Huskies a six-point lead, 19-13, the largest lead for either team in the first half. The Sun Devils would respond with a 12-3 run to take a 25-22 lead. It appeared that ASU would go into the half down by a single point, however Whitcomb hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Huskies into the locker room with a 34-30 lead.<separator></separator>ASU's inside game of Tobin (9 points), Murphy (8 points) and sophomore <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/bennett_kali00.html">K… Bennett</a> (6 points) combined for 23 of ASU's 30 first-half points.<separator></separator>ASU closes out its road trip to the state of Washington on Saturday (2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT) when it travels to Pullman, Wash., to face Washington State. The game can be heard live on The Fan AM 1060.