ASU walked away with a 69-47 win over UA on Monday night, but most of the damage done to the Wildcats was self-inflicted.
UA shot a dismal 2 for 13 from the free-throw line and turned over the ball 11 times in the first half, which allowed the Sun Devils to open a 37-20 lead. The Wildcats didn't help their cause from the field, hitting just nine of 22 field goals.
"That's a joke," UA head coach Joan Bonvicini said of her team's free-throw shooting. "We didn't play with much heart tonight, and 31 percent [from the free-throw line] is just horrible."
Kristen Kovesdy was literally unstoppable in the first half for ASU, hitting all five of her shots in the paint. Kovesdy highlighted a 14-2 run late in the half with six straight points.
Kovesdy and Emily Westerberg exposed UA's hole in the middle left by All-Pac-10 center Shawntinice Polk, who sat out her second straight game with a medial collateral ligament sprain.
"We practiced this week like she was going to play," Westerberg said. "So our game plan that we tried to execute tonight was with her in the game, so we still would have pounded the ball inside like we did tonight."
Westerberg complemented Kovesdy with 11 points and three rebounds in the first half.
"She's [Kovesdy] a monster in the paint," Westerberg said. "I can give her the ball in the worst position and she will do something with it, and that's something you want in the post."
The Sun Devils continued their aggressive style of play to open the second half, stretching their lead to as many as 29 points. ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne utilized her depth off the bench throughout the game, which sucked the wild out of the Wildcats' sails on both ends of the court. ASU scored 34 points off a UA season-high 28 turnovers.
"With this bench, I'm surprised the starting lineup has lasted as long as it has," Turner Thorne said. "I think we have players on the bench that could be challenging more (for starting positions) and that helps everyone step up and not get complacent."
ASU's defense also held UA to just 19-of-43 shooting and added 11 steals. The Wildcats free throw woes carried into the second half, as they finished 6 of 19 from the line.
"Turnovers always give us a little bit of energy," Kovesdy said. "It's one of those things that helps us get up when we're getting sealed and not scoring."
The lone bright spot for the Wildcats was the play of Dee-Dee Wheeler, who scored a game-high 26 points. Wheeler gave the busload of UA fans that made the trip from Tucson a scare when she hit the floor after a collision with Carrie Buckner.
Luckily for the Wildcats, the injury was not serious. Wheeler returned to the game later in the second half with a minor knee bruise.
Reach the reporter at brian.knapp@asu.edu.
