Barnes' 25 leads Wildcats past ASU

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior guard Adia Barnes jumps over an ASU player to get to the basket at the University Activity Centerin Tempe The Wildcats beat ASU 66-42. The women will now prepare for a critical game against UCLA.

"We wanted to set the tone early," UA head coach Joan Bonvicini said. "ASU did a good job of coming back, but the final eight minutes were ours, we took over."

The Wildcats (17-4, 7-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference) never trailed in the game and forced ASU to shoot just 22 percent from the floor, the lowest since Jan. 11, 1993 when they did the same against San Diego State. ASU made five of 22 three-point attempts and turned the ball over on 23 other occasions. Arizona, on the other hand, attempted less than 10 shots from outside 15 feet. Repeatedly the Wildcats were able to connect on lob passes.

"We did a good job scouting this team. We knew that we were going to be successful in the post," Bonvicini said. "Adia was outstanding, but I thought the entire team played very well."

Defensively, the Wildcats inserted a tight 2-3 zone in the second half and the ASU guards couldn't score consistently against it.

"Teams don't like playing us because of our defense," said freshman Felicity Willis, who started her first game for the injured DeAngela Minter. "We knew it (the zone) was going to work. They couldn't score on it."

The Sun Devils (7-13, 1-9) got to within seven points, 40-33, with over eight minutes to play, but Arizona responded with a 26-9 run to end the game.

"We could not make a shot," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We turned the ball over too much, just like we do every game. But we had enough shots to win this game, at least to make it close."

The largest crowd for a women's game in ASU school history was primarily filled with screaming little girls that were part of a Girl Scout contest.

Barnes and junior Marte Alexander both finished with double-doubles, each with 11 rebounds. Alexander had 10 points and two blocks. Mikko Giordano was the clutch player off the bench. In the final seven minutes, she had eight points, three assists, two st eals and a pair of rebounds.

"Once we moved to the zone and inserted Mikko with Adia, then we started to dominate," Bonvicini said. "Mikko is so versatile. I just put her in there with Adia and let them do their thing."

Sophomore Monika Crank led the team with seven assists while Willis added four.

Arizona State's Molly Tuter, who came into the game off a 33 point outburst against Washington State and is seventh in the conference in scoring with a 16.2 average, was held to 10 points on 3 of 11 shooting.

"We finally got (off) to a good start, but we had a little lapse in intensity in the second half. Then we realized we had to take it away," Giordano said.

In the first matchup Arizona State initiated a physical game and lost by six. On Saturday, Arizona was the aggressor and won by 24.

"That's our goal every game," Alexander said. "We like to play physical, especially against Arizona State."