Women's hoops knocks off DePaul

December 22, 2010

<a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2010-2011/game-10.ht… Stats</a> <separator></separator> <separator></separator> <separator></separator><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/watson_tenaya00.html">… Watson</a> had 25 points, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/simon_dymond01.html">D… Simon</a> had 24 points and seven assists, and Arizona State knocked off No. 16 DePaul 79-66 Tuesday night for its biggest win of the season.<separator></separator>DePaul (13-2) had won 10 straight games and was coming off an impressive victory over No. 3 Stanford. The pesky Sun Devils (8-2) had already faced two Top 25 teams this season and didn't back down against the Blue Demons, dominating the second half for their fifth straight win.<separator></separator>Watson added eight rebounds and four steals, and Simon sneaked in for five rebounds for Arizona State, which wraps up its non-conference schedule against Marist on Tuesday.<separator></separator>Felicia Chester had 16 points and Keisha Hampton added 14 for the Blue Demons.<separator></separator>DePaul had one of its biggest wins Thursday, knocking off Stanford 91-71 to delay Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer's 800th career win.<separator></separator>The Blue Demons hounded Stanford defensively and used a big run early in the second half to pull away, preventing the program from an unwanted 800-win hat trick after being on the losing end of milestone wins by Tennessee's Pat Summit and Rutgers' Vivian Stringer.<separator></separator>They couldn't afford a letdown against the Sun Devils, though.<separator></separator>Arizona State has already faced some tough competition, losing to No. 4 Tennessee and 14th-ranked Florida State. Those are the Sun Devils' only defeats, though, and they're a scrappy team that had won four straight after scoring nine of the final 10 points in a 63-52 victory over South Dakota.<separator></separator>Defense has keyed Arizona State's run. After some early-season struggles, the Sun Devils have tightened up during their winning streak, holding teams to 51 points per game while averaging 17 steals.<separator></separator>DePaul, with all those weapons, figured to be a little tougher to stop.<separator></separator>The Blue Demons have four players who average in double figures, led by Hampton's 17, and score 80 points per game while shooting at a 47 percent clip from the field.<separator></separator>Arizona State didn't exactly stop DePaul in the first half - 13 of 26 from the floor - but the Blue Demons couldn't shake the Sun Devils, either.<separator></separator>Watson was the problem in the first half, repeatedly getting into the lane on her way to 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Simon did her thing early in the second half, dishing and dashing through the Blue Demons, even grabbing a seat on the scorer's table for a second after breaking up a pass.<separator></separator>Simon kept churning, getting a backcourt steal and jumper, and added a 3-pointer from the wing to put Arizona State up seven. Watson followed with a 3 of her own and Simon scored on a layup with 6 minutes left, capping a 14-4 run that put the Sun Devils up 61-47.<separator></separator>Arizona State hit 16 of 31 shots in the second half and hounded DePaul into 10-of-26 shooting - 0 for 5 from 3 - to pull off a win that should get the Sun Devils some serious consideration in next week's polls.<separator></separator>

Sports Sun Devil Athletics