The ASU women’s gymnastics team heads to the Pacific Northwest this weekend to try to accomplish what the men’s basketball team couldn’t last Saturday.

Beat a Washington Husky team in Seattle.

ASU is coming off its best performance of the year, garnering a score of 195.70 in a losing effort against No. 4 Utah.

“This will be an important meet for us, because I want to see if we can be a back-to-back meet team,” coach John Spini said. “Success breeds motivation.”

“Basically, we are trying to do exactly what we did last week and not count any falls,” added junior Brittany Schuett. “There are always little things here and there we can improve on — it’s just a matter of cleaning things up.”

Spini isn’t worried about a drop-off in performance from his squad.

“How to get them to not have a letdown is to tell them we aren’t up there yet,” Spini said. “Hopefully, from the excitement they can continue to develop in the way they compete this week.”

The No. 25 Sun Devils (1-6) come into the meet ranked nationally for the first time this season.

“I’ve been ranked every number in the world, but rankings mean nothing until you get there and get it done,” Spini said. “The number is a nice plus — the recruits that we sign look at that I’m sure. But each week is a new page, and if you’re spending all you’re time looking at rankings, you need to rethink what your doing.”

ASU’s gymnasts aren’t paying much attention to the notoriety, either.

“We haven’t really thought much about the number,” Schuett said. “We are still trying to keep climbing.”

The No. 24 Huskies (2-5) finished second in a quad meet last week behind No. 8 Stanford.

Ironically, Washington was also ranked No. 24 last year when the Sun Devils came out on top 195.575-195.075 in Tempe.

“I really like the kids’ spirit and look they have come in with this week,” Spini said. “They feel a lot better about where they are going. We’ve had very positive workouts.”

ASU holds the all-time record advantage against Washington, 40-13, and has won four straight.

“We have a lot more confidence heading into this weekend of what we are capable of doing,” Schuett said. “We have really built since the last meet.”

When the Sun Devils try to snap their three-meet losing streak, they will again most likely be without standout freshman Tina Salavec, who is out with a toe injury.

“I still see her in pain, which hurts us because she was so stellar in the first three meets,” Spini said. “But that toe isn’t coming along as fast as I want.”

After Saturday’s competition, rankings will be listed by the team’s regional qualifying score as opposed to its total season average. The regional score is somewhat of a BCS-type mathematical ranking system.

Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu