During a weekend excursion to southern California, the ASU women's basketball team caught a few waves of improved play but ultimately wiped out in the end.
In the words of head coach Charli Turner Thorne, the youthful Sun Devils "saw growth" yet couldn't "get over the hump" in a pair of games against the Los Angeles schools - losing to USC 64-56 and UCLA 71-62.
As they have all season, ASU's road woes continued, as the Sun Devils are now 3-7 away from Wells Fargo Arena.
After both contests, Turner Thorne said the bane of ASU (14-10, 6-9 Pac-10) ended up being its inability to handle the ball.
"When we take good care of the ball we win, and we didn't take care of the ball," she said. "It's disappointing; we're not getting beat by these teams; we're beating ourselves. [A lot] of the turnovers were unforced. We're playing undisciplined basketball.
"I feel bad for our team, they play hard...and they did a lot of good things but they just kill themselves when every third possession they just give the other team the ball."
Against the Trojans on Friday, the Sun Devils jumped to a 10-3 lead, before USC went on an 8-0 run to take the lead. The two teams played tight for the remainder of the half as the Trojans held a 21-19 advantage at halftime.
After the two teams came out of the locker room, the Trojans began to pull away as they built a 53-42 lead with 8:20 remaining. With the game looking grim, the Sun Devils refused to die and battled back to cut their deficit to 57-56 on a free throw by junior forward Jen Albert with 3:17 on the clock. However, ASU could not score a point the rest of the game.
The Sun Devils' leading scorer, freshman guard Jill Noe, was limited to just 16 minutes without a point as she was slowed by a strained groin.
ASU committed 25 turnovers in the game to USC's 16.
"I saw growth [with the team]," Turner Thorne said. "We got down and fought back, but turnovers were hands down the difference in the game. We did a good job running but we didn't get up enough shots.
"We saw people open and rather than creating a lay-up we turned the ball over. That's where we missed Jill the most because she's one of our best passers."
Amy Denson grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with 11 points to lead ASU.
On Sunday, the Sun Devils suffered a similar fate as they again had problems handling the ball as they committed 24 turnovers.
ASU came out strong for the second game in a row. Going into halftime, the Sun Devils held a 30-25 advantage. It was the first time since Dec. 29 at California, that they had taken a lead into halftime on the road.
However, as they did two days earlier, ASU could not hang on as they were outscored 46-32 in the second period. The Bruins went on a 15-2 run immediately after the intermission and built a 42-32 advantage with 13:43 remaining. ASU cut the lead to 54-53 with 3:43 remaining but couldn't get any closer.
Sophomore forward Carrie Buckner led the Sun Devils as she put in 16 points, while Denson contributed 12.
"We have no experience and we're just not poised," Turner Thorne said. "When it's getting tight, we get tight. We're not stepping up, we don't get aggressive and we play scared and we turn the ball over.
"They're not confident when they're on the road to maintain their aggressiveness. I tell them all the time, 'it cannot be fun to be tentative, to be hesitant, to be looking sideways, to not attack people' and yet we go out and we do it."
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
