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Wildcats face rival Devils in Pac-10 clash

With hopes of establishing momentum in the Pacific 10 Conference and another winning streak, the UA women's basketball team hosts rival Arizona State Sunday afternoon at 2.

Arizona moved to 4-2 in the Pac-10 last weekend after splitting its games against Southern California and UCLA, and this weekend could put them back on track to obtaining its goal - a conference championship.

"As far as momentum, this game is going to be huge," UA senior guard Felecity Willis said. "We need to get back on a winning streak with a win over ASU. You always want to beat your rival and I'm sure that they are thinking the same thing"

Though UA owns the mark for highest scoring offense in the Pac-10 at 82.1 points per game, Willis and UA head coach Joan Bonvicini said that defense is going to be the key for a victory over the Sun Devils.

"Expect a defensive focus from here on out from us, because that has been our Achilles' heel," Willis said. "We know as a team that we need to be better as a whole and especially focusing on the defensive side of the ball."

The Wildcats are currently tied with Arizona State for fourth and could move up in the Pac-10 standings with a win on Sunday.

The conference season is not yet half over and though UA is in fourth place, Willis pointed out that no one can count them out just yet.

"Right now in the Pac-10, anyone is capable of beating anyone, and right now, we just need to focus on ourselves and focus on what the team can do each game, and hopefully it will be a win every game."

Arizona State is off to its best start since the 1992-93 season with an 11-5 overall record and 4-2 in Pac-10 play after it split games against UCLA and USC last weekend.

It took ASU an overtime period to beat USC 78-74 last Thursday before falling to UCLA 76-55 on Saturday.

A win over the Sun Devils would give Bonvicini her 150th win at Arizona and her 475th win as a head coach. In her nine years at Arizona, she is 149-101 and has a career record of 474-102.

"The milestone means that I've been around a long time and that I've had a lot of good players," Bonvicini said. "If we are to win, it would be a special one because it would be against ASU."