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Women's hoops tries to avenge loss to ASU


Photo
KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Freshman guard Jessica Arnold draws a foul in Saturday's 86-65 win over Oregon State in McKale Center.
By Lindsey Frazier
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
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State bragging rights and revenge are on the line in tonight's contest as the UA women's basketball team takes on in-state rival Arizona State at 7 in McKale Center.

Both teams hold an identical record of 14 wins against five losses and a 6-3 mark in the Pacific 10 Conference and both teams are tied for third place behind Stanford and Southern California in conference standings.

"This is a big game for conference but it's also a pride thing," said UA head coach Joan Bonvicini. "The No. 1 thing (is to) play Arizona basketball, (which is) playing with pride and heart and passion."

"ASU is our rivalry," agreed junior guard Natalie Jones. "We have our rematch, our revenge. The biggest thing that we've been bringing up is just having fun. We need to play for ourselves and that's what our team unity is all about."

The Wildcats fell to the Sun Devils 69-47 Jan. 3 in Tempe, although Arizona was without the services of junior center Shawntinice Polk and freshman guard Jessica Arnold.

"They played well and we didn't play," Bonvicini said. "We were down a few players. They were a lot of things (that contributed to the loss) - we played to their tempo. They controlled about every aspect of the game."

"We let them control the game from the jump and that's something you can't do with a team like ASU," Polk said. "They'll take advantage of it, being as good a team as they are. When we play them (today), we're going to have to control from start to finish."

The UA coaching staff has stressed the need to penetrate the glass throughout the season. Despite blowing out the Beavers (86-65) on the scoreboard, UA narrowly out-rebounded OSU 36 to 34. The Wildcats are 11-0 when they out-board their opponents but are only 2-4 when out-rebounded.

"We need to control the boards," Bonvicini said. "Our defense really creates our offense. We need to get a mix of using our post players and our guards. It can't just be in that game (against ASU when) it was just Dee-Dee (Wheeler)."

UA is coming off Saturday's win over OSU shooting 52 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free-throw line.

Arnold finished with a career-high 21 points, while Polk and Wheeler notched 15 and 14 points, respectively.

The Sun Devils defeated Oregon 74-65 Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena. Sophomore forward Emily Westerberg recorded 17 of her career-high 27 points in the second half and also finished with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Senior guard Kylan Loney tallied 13 points, including 3-of-5 shooting from downtown.

On the season, ASU is outscoring its opponents 64 to 52 and is out-rebounding them 37 to 31.

The Wildcats trail the all-time series 29-38 and are 15-16 against the Sun Devils when playing on their home court.

Bonvicini said she also hopes to attract more fans to McKale by setting a goal of drawing 10,000 fans.

"I didn't pick that number off the top of my head," Bonvicini said. "That was a specific thing. It wasn't anyone in the athletic department but basically someone said that they (didn't) think the women could do that (attract 10,000 fans). We really would like people to come out to our games this week - to support our women's program but to let people know they support women and the advancement of women. We're not going backwards, we're going forward."



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