Women's basketball suffers second loss to ASU in same week

By JAMES KELLEY Published February 25, 2013 at 12:02am Updated February 25, 2013 at 12:02am

Arizona women’s basketball lost its second painful game to Arizona State in less than a week.

The Wildcats (12-15, 4-12 Pac-12) couldn’t score on their last possession and lost 59-58 to Arizona State (13-15, 5-11). On Tuesday night at home, Arizona lost 81-77 in double overtime to the Sun Devils. ASU has beaten the Wildcats five games in a row and 15 of the last 16 times they’ve met.

“We just didn’t get a stop,” head coach Niya Butts said. “We needed a stop, we didn’t get it, simple as that.”

Senior guard Davellyn Whyte, who earned the UA’s first ever triple-double on Tuesday, almost recorded a second one Sunday, settling for a double-double, 18 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Junior guard/forward Kama Griffitts scored 11 points and junior forward Erica Barnes added 10.
Arizona out rebounded ASU 36-34. The Wildcats outshot Arizona State 42 percent to 38.3 and 80 percent to 50 percent from the free throw line, but ASU shot 43.8 percent from beyond the arc compared to 25 percent for Arizona.

The Sun Devils opened up the game with a 6-0 run and led for much of the game.

Barnes had six points in the first half but ASU led at the break 35-27. The UA opened the second with a 7-2 run to narrow the gap a bit.

“The second half, we got a few more stops, we executed some offensively, we were able to get to the foul line,” Butts said. “We didn’t do enough to win, we didn’t do enough to win.”

Arizona won the turnover battle 22-16. The UA attempted 15 free throws in the second half after not getting to the charity stripe at all in the first half.

Whyte, the second leading scorer in UA history, eclipsed the 2,000 point milestone with a dramatic 3-pointer that tied it for the first time since the start of the game.

The Wildcats took the lead on an 8-0 run and the score went back and forth.

In the final minute, junior forward Alli Gloyd hit a couple of clutch free throws to give the UA a 58-56 lead, but ASU responded with a 3-pointer of its own and stopped the Wildcats on the final possession.

The Wildcats close out the regular season by hosting USC and UCLA on Friday and Sunday, respectively.