University of Washington
Arizona State
UW Women Edged By Arizona State, 68-62
January 24, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2008
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
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SEATTLE - Senior center Andrea Plouffe scored a season-high 19 points but it wasn't enough for the Huskies, as Washington suffered yet another close loss, this time at the hands of Arizona State, 68-62, at Bank of America Arena Thursday night.
The setback was the Huskies' (7-13, 2-6 Pac-10) third-straight loss by a six-point margin or less after falling by four and two points respectively at Oregon State and Oregon, last weekend. The Sun Devils, which received votes in both Top-25 polls this week, snapped a brief two-game losing streak and improved to 12-7, 6-2 in conference play.
Plouffe was the lone Husky to finish in double-figure scoring, but freshman center Kali Bennett added nine points and freshman guard/forward Katelan Redmon had eight. Redmon was the leader on the boards for UW with six, while freshman Sarah Morton came off the bench to spark the Huskies with a team-high four assists.
Arizona State was led by reserve forward Lauren Lacy who sank a game-high 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Forward Kayli Murphy also had 11 points for the Sun Devils.
"A six-point game," UW head coach Tia Jackson said following the tight contest. "That's been indicative of our last few games, actually. I know down the road, these are games we win. A disappointing loss, but I think any time you give a team 17 offensive rebounds, they're going to score on every other one. ASU is a solid team that has balance all the way around. I would say if anything hurt us, that's probably the biggest thing right there."
After trailing by nine points with 7:32 left (39-48), the Huskies came back to within four on a three-pointer from Bennett and a basket from Morton. But the Sun Devils broke away with a three-pointer of their own from guard Briann January. The Huskies closed to within five points, and again ASU extended its lead with another three-pointer - this time from guard Reagan Pariseau.
Washington was down by 10 points (54-64) and 1:09 on the clock, and outscored ASU 8-4 in the final minute which ended with the final 64-68 score.
During the first-half, it looked like the game could go either way with five ties and eight lead changes in the opening 20 minutes. Neither team led by more than six points - that being the halftime score in ASU's favor (26-20). Washington's largest lead of the game was three (10-7) at the 15:33 minute mark.
Washington will wrap the first half of Pac-10 play hosting Arizona, Saturday, January 26, at 2 p.m. at Bank of America Arena.
