Arizona rallies to beat Cougars

Ashley Whisonant scored 13 of her 17 points in the second half as Arizona rallied to beat Washington State 61-52 Thursday night in a Pacific-10 Conference game at Tucson, Ariz.

Whisonant had eight points in a 9-0 run to give the Wildcats a 53-45 lead with 4:15 left.

Arizona (5-6, 1-1) also got 18 points from Joy Hollingsworth and 12 points from Natalie Jones en route to ending a four-game losing streak.

Kate Benz, Keisha Moore and Amanda DuRocher scored 11 points each for Washington State (6-5, 0-3), with Benz adding 11 rebounds and Moore 10.

Whisonant gave the Wildcats a 46-45 lead after a steal and layup with 5:46 remaining. She added two free throws, another layup and a basket after another steal.

Arizona took a 22-21 lead at halftime after Hollingsworth scored eight straight points in the final 3 minutes.

•Kristen Kovesdy had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Emily Westerberg (Central Valley High) scored six points in the final 2:20, leading No. 11 Arizona State to a 64-51 win over Washington in a Pac-10 game at Tempe, Ariz.

The Sun Devils (11-1, 2-0) broke open a tight game in the second half for their eighth consecutive victory, the most since they won nine straight during the 1991-92 season.

Cameo Hicks had 12 points for the Huskies (9-3, 2-1).

Arizona State led just 21-20 at halftime but had a 20-11 surge early in the second half.

Washington closed within 41-35 on a basket by Andrea Plouffe with 10:43 left, but Kovesdy made two layups and converted a three-point play in a 1:20 span, boosting the Sun Devils to a 54-43 lead with 6:17 to go.

•Sarah Scates had 18 points on 9-of-15 shooting and nine rebounds to lead Community Colleges of Spokane to an 81-51 rout of Seattle in the Bigfoot Classic at Spokane Community College.

Emily Wittkopf added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Sasquatch (9-5), who took 38 more field-goal attempts (83-45) and pulled down 28 more rebounds (58-30) than the Storm.

CCS also had 23 assists, led by Brittany O’Neal with a game-high five. Keosha Bradford led the Storm with 18 points and seven rebounds.