Devils too much for WSU

PULLMAN – A 19-point margin of defeat usually isn’t a sign that a team has given a fair account of itself. But Washington State women’s basketball coach June Daugherty would beg to differ.

Arizona State University’s depth, size and defense eventually wore down the Cougars as the Sun Devils pulled away 59-40 Saturday afternoon in a Pac-10 Conference game before 673 at Friel Court.

“Progress, progress, progress,” Daugherty said. “It’s tough not to get a (win) against a quality team like Arizona State, but I’ve never had a team only turn the ball over 15 times against ASU in my entire coaching career in the Pac-10. That’s an area of focus that we’ve talked a lot about as a team – being strong with the basketball.”

Daugherty also praised her team’s defense.

“Our defense was right on,” she said. “If you can hold Arizona State under 60 like we did …. I thought our kids did an excellent job on both ends.”

ASU (13-7, 7-2 Pac-10) opened up a 23-12 lead with 7 minutes to go in the first half, but the Cougars (3-17, 0-9) fought back, creeping within three points twice before the Sun Devils took a 30-24 lead into halftime.

The Sun Devils, despite committing 16 turnovers in the second half, slowly pulled away as the Cougars went through scoring droughts.

“Mentally I thought we were really tough,” said WSU junior guard Katie Appleton, who had a game-high 14 points. “I thought we showed a lot of poise against their pressure. That’s a great defensive team, one of the top (teams) in the country defensively.”

After WSU scored the first basket of the second half, ASU scored eight straight points. Cougars scored their second basket 4 minutes and 31 seconds later.

The Sun Devils used an 11-2 run to extend the lead to 49-30 with 9:26 to go. That’s where the margin would stand for the most of the final minutes.

ASU spread the scoring around. Sixth-year senior Jill Noe finished with a team-high 13 points. Former Lewis and Clark standout Briann January, a junior guard, made a 3-pointer and led the Sun Devils with five assists. Teammate Reagan Pariseau, a senior guard from Central Valley, had four assists off the bench.

•Kelsey Kahle scored a game-high 29 points on 11-of-12 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds to lead Portland State to a 77-56 Big Sky Conference victory over Eastern Washington at Peter W. Stott Center in Portland, Ore.

Sydney Benson had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Eagles (3-16, 0-6). Amy Bratvold added 15 points for EWU.

The Vikings (15-4, 5-1) pulled away in the second half, outscoring EWU 42-24.

•Katy Campbell scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Kaleigha Ramey added 13 points and 11 boards as George Fox (16-1, 8-0) defeated Whitworth 65-49 in a Northwest Conference game at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Alida Bower led the Pirates (9-8, 4-4) with 12 points.

•Nikki Depeel scored 29 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead Columbia Basin to a 78-58 NWAACC victory over CC Spokane in Pasco.

Kelsey Stillar had 19 points and Eleaya Schuerch added 11 to lead the Sasquatch.

CCS fell to 14-5 overall and 5-2 in conference play while the Hawks improved to 17-3 and 7-0.

•Freshman Katelan Redmon (Lewis and Clark) led four players in double figures with 18 points as Washington (8-13, 3-6) ended a three-game losing streak with a 74-59 Pac-10 win over Arizona (7-13, 1-8) at Bank of America Arena in Seattle.