Cougars can’t match ASU
PULLMAN – Washington State’s women’s basketball team prides itself in playing hard and playing with heart.
Trouble is, the Cougars didn’t have enough hearts to stick with No. 19 Arizona State, falling 75-65 before a season-high 1,123 fans Thursday night at Beasley Coliseum.
The Sun Devils (15-5, 6-4 Pac-10) used 11 players, nine who played at least 12 minutes. They didn’t substitute as much as they made line changes. The Cougars (6-13, 0-10) never backed down but of the 10 players who got in the game, six played more than 20 minutes.
The depth was evident by the final statistics. Danielle Orsillo and Amy Denison, ASU’s leading scorers with 13 points each, don’t start. Central Valley graduates Emily Westerberg and Regan Pariseau added eight apiece.
“I’d like to have a lot of healthy players to sub like that but I’m proud of our kids … our kids just did not lie down,” WSU coach Sherri Murrell said. “Our spirit is amazing. Nobody’s killed our spirit yet. We’re doing the best with what we have right now.”
Despite a lead that reached 16 points just before midway through the second half, the Sun Devils didn’t put away the Cougars, who clawed back within seven with just less than 5 minutes left.
“Not too many people do (blow out) Washington State,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “They fight back, that’s a credit to Washington State. … Our bench was fabulous. The line changes are going to serve us well … We have to be a letter better at putting teams away.”
Freshman guard Amanda DuRocher led the Cougars with 16 points and had seven rebounds. Senior post Keisha Moore added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Against ASU’s frantic defense, the Cougars had just 18 turnovers.
“They’re known for the defense, they just clamped down on our guards,” Murrell said. “To be honest, that’s probably the best we’ve handled it. … Transition defense was the key to the game we just did not stop them. When we got close they made a big shot.”
ASU’s Spokane point guards, starter Pariseau (four) and Lewis and Clark grad Briann January (six), combined for 10 assists and just one turnover.
“We’re a transition team,” Pariseau said. “We love pushing the ball and getting easy baskets. A lot of our guards did good at that and our posts ran the floor well.”
Washington State put the Sun Devils on their heels at the start, scoring 11 straight for an 11-2 lead. ASU recovered and tied the game at 15 and 19 before a 3 by Orsillo from the left wing put the Devils up for good at 22-21 with 9:03 to go.
ASU had four road losses in their past six games, including two last week.
“We know how hard it is to win on the road in the Pac-10,” Westerberg said. “We came in extremely focused. And it was a homecoming so we wanted to play better for our family and friends.”
Washington 91, Arizona 73
Kristen O’Neill came off the bench to score a season-high 19 points, including 4 of 5 3-pointers, and Washington (14-5, 7-3 Pac-10) broke open a close game with a 16-0 run in the second half to defeat Arizona in Seattle.
Ashley Whisonant led the Wildcats (7-13, 3-7) with 14 points.
Eastern 77, Montana State 50
Jamie Chicane led a trio of Eagles in double figures with 18 points and pulled down six rebounds as Eastern Washington routed Montana State in a Big Sky Conference game in Cheney.
EWU held the Bobcats (2-14, 1-3) to 28 percent field-goal shooting, and the Eagles (8-9, 2-2) held a 46-12 edge in points in the paint.