Women's basketball downs Huskies, 47-41
Senior guard Olivia Major had a career-high 14 points and senior forward Kali Bennett broke the single-game school record for blocks with nine as the Arizona State women's basketball team defeated the Washington Huskies, 47-41, on Thursday in Wells Fargo Arena.
Major knocked down a career-high four three pointers, three of them coming in a decisive first half run for the Sun Devils (17-8, 8-6 Pac-12) and ASU converted 24 Washington turnovers into 22 points, cruising for the better part of the second half en route to the team's second consecutive victory and completing the season sweep over the Huskies (13-12, 5-9 Pac-12).
Bennett nearly had a triple double with 10 points, nine rebounds and nine blocks on the evening. Her nine blocks gave her sole possession of first in ASU's records books for a single game, breaking a tie at seven that she had previous held with Kym Hampton that was set in 1981.
Bennett now has 145 blocks in her Sun Devil career, second on ASU's all-time list behind Hampton's 178 and has posted 72 blocks this season en route to smashing Hampton's previous single-season record of 55.
The Sun Devil defensive presence was prominent throughout, as the team held UW to just 16-of-56 (.286) shooting on the evening in addition to forcing 24 turnovers.
The Sun Devils opened the second half on a 17-4 run to pull away midway through the half, 40-23, but Washington used a 6-0 run of its own to get some momentum on its side.
A desperation heave from senior Alex Earl with the shot clock running down found nothing but net though, putting ASU up 43-29 and the Sun Devils held on from there, withstanding a late Husky rally before the final horn.
Major matched her previous career high of 11 points in just one half, netting 11 on 4-of-6 shooting in the first to help the Sun Devils to a 24-19 halftime advantage. Major's three treys in the frame surpassed her prior career record of two as well.
Both teams struggled with turnovers and missed shots early in the first, with the first points not coming until Washington's Jazmine Davis knocked down a jumper 2:30 into the game.
The Huskies would climb up to a 12-6 advantage with 8:36 remaining in the half before the Sun Devils used a 18-7 run to close the half out with Major scoring all 11 of her first half points during a three-minute span at the start of the run.
Arizona State will be back in action on Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena for Senior Day as Major, Bennett, Earl, Kimberly Brandon and Haley Parsons will all be honored for their contributions to the Sun Devil program. The game is set to tipoff at 2 p.m. MST.