Westerberg leads ASU to upset win
Emily Westerberg saved her best performance so far for the biggest opponent.
The Arizona State guard from Central Valley High School had a season-high 18 points and Kristen Kovesdy added 14, leading the Sun Devils (8-2) to a 61-50 upset of No. 8 Connecticut on Tuesday night in Tempe, Ariz.
“We know they’re the eighth-ranked team, but we just looked at them as any other team and played as hard as we could,” Westerberg said. “We are the underdogs when we go out there, and as underdogs we always expect to go on and overachieve.”
It was the first December loss in 11 years for the Huskies (4-2), the three-time defending NCAA champions, snapping a streak of 60 straight victories since a defeat at Stanford on Dec. 28, 1993. It also was the earliest UConn has lost twice in its first six games since 1992-93.
The Sun Devils were coming off a 61-45 loss at New Mexico that knocked them out of the Top 25 after one week in the rankings. But they used dogged defense and the outside-inside punch of Westerberg and Kovesdy to win their ninth straight home game and 22nd in the last 24.
(1) LSU 72, UCSB 52: At Santa Barbara, Calif., Seimone Augustus overcame a case of food poisoning to score 16 points and lead the top-ranked Tigers to a victory over the Gauchos. Sholanda Hoston added 15 points for LSU (11-0)UC Santa Barbara is 2-4. … (9) Tennessee 70, (2) Stanford 67: At Knoxville, Tenn., Shanna Zolman hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Volunteers (8-2) a victory over the Cardinal (8-1). The Vols handed Stanford its first loss of the season and beat the Cardinal for the ninth straight time. … (4) Texas 69, Texas-Arlington 24: At Austin, Texas, Tiffany Jackson scored 12 points for the Longhorns (6-2), who sat their starters for much of the game against the Mavericks (4-5).
(10) Ohio State 83, (20) UCLA 60: At Columbus, Ohio, Caity Matter set a school record for career 3s and scored 19 points for the Buckeyes (11-1) in a win over the Bruins (6-3). … (11) Michigan State 85, Vermont 57: At East Lansing, Mich., Kelli Roehrig matched her season-high with 23 points, leading the Spartans (10-1) to a victory over the Catamounts (3-4). …(12) Texas Tech 79, Penn St. 65: At Lubbock, Texas, Cisti Greenwalt scored a season-high 21 points, and the Red Raiders (7-2) used a strong finish to the first half in defeating the Nittany Lions (5-5). … (15) Georgia 79, Marist (62): At Poughkeepsie, N.Y., freshman Tasha Humphrey had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs (9-3) who defeated the Red Foxes (3-4). … (16) Vanderbilt 78, Pepperdine 46: At Los Angeles, Ashley Earley made 9 of 11 shots and scored 20 points to lead the Commodores over the Waves in the championship game of the Hilton Woodland Hills Beach Classic.
(18) Iowa 76, W. Illinois 69: At Iowa City, Iowa, Johanna Solverson scored 19 points and converted a key three-point play in the closing minute for the undefeated Hawkeyes (10-0) in a win over the Westerwinds (4-5). … (19) DePaul 86, St. Peter’s 61: At Jersey City, N.J., Khara Smith scored a season-high 32 points, and added 13 rebounds and five blocked for the Blue Demons (8-2) in a win over the Peahens (4-4). … Oklahoma 72, (25) Utah 59: At Salt Lake City, the Sooners (7-3) got 17 points from Erin Higgins and snapped the Utes’ (8-3) seven-game win streak.