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ASU can’t overcome Tar Heels

Arizona State guard Reagan Pariseau, left, battles North Carolina's Nikita Bell for a loose ball. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Bob Baum Associated Press
Arizona State guard Reagan Pariseau, left, battles North Carolina's Nikita Bell for a loose ball. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State had the home crowd roaring and the 3-point shots falling, at least for a while.

That wasn’t enough against the quick, strong Tar Heels of North Carolina, who beat the scrappy Sun Devils 79-72 in the semifinals of the Tempe Regional on Saturday night.

North Carolina (30-3), chosen as a No. 1 seed over top-ranked Stanford, dominated play inside to advance to Monday night’s regional final against No. 2 seed Baylor, a 64-57 winner over Minnesota in Saturday’s first game at Wells Fargo Arena.

Ivory Latta, North Carolina’s point guard who is optimistically listed at 5-foot-6, scored four of her 20 points in the final minute to help seal the victory.

Freshman Erlana Larkins had 18 points and matched her career high with 14 rebounds. Latta added 16 points, and La’Tangela Atkinson had 14. Nikita Bell scored 13 for the Tar Heels, 11 in the second half when North Carolina finally pulled away.

Kylan Loney, playing with a broken nose, scored 18 points, including 3 of 6 on 3-pointers, in her final game for the Sun Devils (24-10), who lost for only the second time in 14 home games this season. The other loss was to Stanford, the No. 2 seed in the Kansas City Regional.

Kristen Kovesdy added 13 points for Arizona State, but only two in the second half when she was in foul trouble. Aubree Johnson scored 12. Emily Westerberg, Arizona State’s all-Pac 10 forward, scored 12 points but was just 3 for 16 from the field.

Down 46-42 at the break, Arizona State tied it twice early in the second half, the last time at 48 on Loney’s 16-footer with 17:33 to play. But Bell had eight points, including two three-point plays, in a 10-3 run that put the Tar Heels ahead 58-51 with 15:01 to go.

The pesky Sun Devils stayed close though, and Amy Denson’s two free throws cut the lead to 62-60 with 9:29 to go.

Larkins’ rebound basket boosted the lead to 66-62 with 8:40 to play. Arizona State never got closer than four after that.

After falling behind 6-0, the Sun Devils got the crowd going with a 13-0 run, nine of them by Loney – two 3-pointers and three free throws when she was fouled on another 3-point try.

The lead reached 20-10 on Johnson’s 15-footer with 12:54 to play in the first half.

But the Tar Heels came back, dominating play inside in a 13-2 surge to go up 30-26 on Latta’s 25-foot 3-pointer 5:44 before the break. Larkins, a 6-2 freshman, scored on a layup and rebound in a 6-0 spurt that put North Carolina ahead 44-35 with 2:36 to play in the half.

Local products Westerberg (Central Valley ) and Johnson (Post Falls) had 12 points each for ASU. Reagan Pariseau (CV) added three points.