Women's basketball travels to Bay Area for double play
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Currently owners of the Pac-10's longest winning streak (7 games), the Arizona State women's basketball teams makes its first road trip of the conference season this week when it travels to the Bay Area to face California (Thursday at 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT) and No. 4 Stanford (Saturday at 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT).
The Sun Devils (10-2, 2-0 Pac-10) are coming off a pair of wins to open the 2010-11 Pac-10 slate after defeating Oregon State (49-46) and Oregon (86-67) last week.
Junior forward Kimberly Brandon had back-to-back double-doubles in the two wins as she scored a career high 19 points to go along with 11 rebounds against the Beavers and then closed out the weekend by duplicating her career-high in scoring (19) while also grabbing 12 rebounds. Brandon, who is averaging 12.0 points and 9.4 rebounds during ASU's current winning streak, made 65 percent (17-26) of her shots in the two games.
Also averaging double figures in scoring in the two wins was senior guard Dymond Simon (14.0 ppg).
ASU's current 10-2 record is its best after 12 games since the 2006-07 season. The Sun Devils' only two losses this season have come on the road to perennial national power No. 5 Tennessee and to the No. 24 Florida State Seminoles in a game which the Sun Devils led for most of the second half.
Much of ASU's success during its seven-game winning streak can be attributed to defense as the Sun Devils have allowed 55.0 points per game in their last seven contests compared to 58.8 in the first five games. While a difference of 3.8 points per game may not seem like much, it should be noted that two of ASU's victories during its winning streak came against DePaul, which came into its contest against ASU averaging 80.1 points per game and nearly eight 3-point field goals per game, and Oregon, which came in averaging 89 points and 8.3 3-point field goals per game. The Sun Devils held the former to 66 points (nearly 15 points below its average) and the latter to 67 points (22 points below its average and its lowest scoring output of the season). In addition the Sun Devils limited DePaul (2-10) and Oregon (1-9) to an aggregate 16 percent shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Earlier this season at South Dakota State (Dec. 16), ASU limited the Jackrabbits to a season-low shooting effort of 33 percent while the 52 points South Dakota State scored were its fewest in a home game since the 1986-87 campaign. In last week's win vs. Oregon State the Sun Devils held the Beavers to a season-low 46 points, the fifth time the Sun Devils have held an opponent to 52 or fewer points this season.
Offensively speaking, the Sun Devils have averaged 15.6 assists in their last seven games compared to 10.8 in the first five contests. In addition, the Sun Devils have also seen improvements in free throw shooting (.754 in last six games compared to .652 in first five) and more production from the perimeter (5.0 3-pointers per game compared to 2.2 in the first five games).
Winners of last year's postseason WNIT, the Golden Bears are currently 8-4. They opened Pac-10 play last week with a 78-54 setback against Stanford. The Golden Bears are one of the top rebounding teams in the conference (2nd in Pac-10 with +9.1 rebounding margin). Cal F/C DeNesha Stallworth is currently No. 5 in the Pac-10 in scoring (15.5 ppg) while sophomore C Talia Caldwell is No. 2 in rebounding (8.9 rpg) and tied for third in FG pct. (.566).
RADIO
Thursday's game can be heard live on The Fan AM 1060. Pre-game coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Arizona. Veteran broadcaster Jeff Munn is in his seventh season as the voice of ASU women's basketball.