Arizona Cleans Up On Cougs No Miracle This Time As Wildcats Avoid Another Upset

A couple of clean looks - complete with buckets - wiped out Washington State’s chance of another upset win over the Arizona women’s basketball team.

But unlike the January miracle in the desert, Saturday’s game produced the outcome that has become the norm for the crestfallen Cougars.

No. 8 Arizona 71, Washington State 66.

This one came with a rally down the stretch that allowed the Cougars to tie the score at 66.

“Obviously, when they tied the game up, I had flashes of what happened the last time,” said Wildcats coach Joan Bonvicini, whose team improved to 15-5, 8-3 in the Pac-10 Conference.

In the earlier meeting, WSU beat then-No. 10 Arizona when Tricia Lamb banked in a bomb at the buzzer. Lamb let loose two shots in the final seconds Saturday at Friel Court. However, by then, WSU was trailing by five, mostly due to Arizona’s nifty executions.

The Wildcats took the lead for good, 68-66 on Marte Alexander’s layup with 1:11 left. The easy basket was set up by a clean pass by Adia Barnes. Arizona tacked on three free throws in the final minute.

“This is almost like the weather in the Palouse. You never know.” Washington State coach Harold Rhodes said. “I thought today’s game matched last Saturday’s effort. We played hard.”

Last Saturday, the Cougars squandered a 17-point lead in a loss to UCLA. This Saturday, Washington State trailed by 14 points, 46-32, early in the second half before fighting back.

The outcome dropped the Cougars’ record to 10-10, 3-8. It was their fourth straight defeat, all at home.

Despite a miserable 29 turnovers - Arizona wasn’t much better with 27 - Washington State displayed some sweet moves of its own.

The Cougars took a 64-62 lead - only their second lead after scoring first - when point guard Jen Kerns found Yvonne Volkman hanging out in 3-point land. Volkman, a freshman forward, uncorked a peculiar-looking line drive that found its way through the rim.

Seconds later, Arizona tied the game at 64-all when Lisa Griffith hit two free throws. With 2:03 left, the Wildcats took the lead when senior forward Barnes scored a clean layup over Yvonne Kunze.

“We hadn’t given the ball to our post-ups in the last 5-7 minutes and finally Adia Barnes had a real good look and finished it,” Bonvicini said. “I thought that was the nail in the coffin.”

But there still was plenty of life left in the home team. With 1:33 left and down by two, Kunze dished off to Doreen Evans, who was camped out under the basket and finished the play with an easy layup.

Kunze led the Cougars with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting, but it was Evans who stood out. She pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, swiped a team-high three of the Cougars’ 10 steals and scored 10 points.

“Doreen Evans played the best game of her life as a Cougar,” Rhodes said about the 5-foot-11 senior.

Griffith led all scorers with 18 points, hitting 6 of 12 from the field and 4 of 8 3-point attempts. Barnes finished with 15 points (6 of 11), well below her conference-leading 22.4 points-per-game average. She scored all her baskets in the paint and most were a result of Arizona’s quick transitions.

In the team’s earlier meeting, Barnes scored 10 points.

“The players were a little upset,” Rhodes said. “Their goal was to hold her to 10 points.”

Arizona 71, Washington St. 66

Arizona (15-5, 8-3) - Hambrick 2-6 0-0 4, Barnes 6-11 3-5 15, Griffith 6-12 2-2 18, Crank 0-2 1-2 1, Willis 6-12 0-0 12, Bristol 1-4 0-1 2, Minter 3-7 4-6 10, Giordano 0-0 0-0 0, Alexander 4-6 1-1 9. Totals 28-60 11-17 71.

Washington State (9-11, 3-8) - Dietel 2-5 2-2 6, Evans 3-6 3-4 10, Kunze 5-10 6-8 16, Nyseth 1-1 0-0 2, Lamb 4-9 3-3 11, Harrod 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-2 0-0 0, McNeely 0-0 0-0 0, Kerns 1-7 6-7 8, Volkman 5-8 1-1 13. Totals 21-48 21-25 66.

Halftime - Arizona 43, Washington State 32. 3-point goals - Arizona 4-12 (Griffith 4-8, Willis 0-1, Bristol 0-1, Minter 0-2), Washington State 3-15 (Volkman 2-4, Evans 1-1, Smith 0-1, Dietel 0-3, Lamb 0-3, Kerns 0-3). Fouled out - Hambrick. Rebounds - Arizona 33 (Barnes, Alexander 6), Washington State 31 (Evans 7). Assists - Arizona 11 (Willis 5), Washington State 12 (Kerns 5). Total fouls - Arizona 22, Washington State 16. Technicals - None. A - 328.

(21) Washington 62, ASU 39

In Seattle, Amber Hill scored 14 points and had 12 rebounds as the Huskies (15-5, 6-5) took command during a 15-0 second half run and coasted to a win over the Sun Devils (9-11, 5-6).

Arizona State (9-11) - White 3-7 1-2 7, Freeman 2-11 2-2 8, Holt 1-10 2-2 4, Lowe 1-8 2-2 4, Tom 2-9 0-0 5, Newman 0-6 2-2 2, Sand 1-7 0-0 3, Steed 2-2 0-0 4, McDanal 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 12-60 11-12 39.

Washington (15-5) - Hall 6-14 2-2 14, Hills 2-5 0-0 6, Pelz 3-7 2-2 8, Redd 5-10 0-0 12, Franza 3-9 1-3 7, Erickson 0-0 0-0, Doxsee 0-0 0-0 0, Duncan 2-4 0-0 5, Teel 0-0 1-3 1, Pimley 0-2 0-0 0, Lynch 3-4 1-2 7, Sheets 0-3 0-2 0, Tuiaea 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-59 7-14 62.

Halftime-Washington 26, Arizona State 22. 3-Point goals- Arizona State 4-16 (Freeman 2-8, Sand 1-3, Tom 1-4, Newman 0-1), Washington 5-14 (Hills 2-3, Redd 2-5, Duncan 1-2, Sheets 0-1, Franza 0-3). Fouled out-Lowe, Tom. Rebounds-Arizona State 42 (Lowe 10), Washington 46 (Hall 12). Assists-Arizona State 9 (Freeman, Lowe 3), Washington 12 (Pelz 3). Total Fouls- Arizona State 18, Washington 17. A-3,598.

, DataTimes