The ASU women's basketball team, hosting the Verizon Wireless ASU Classic this weekend at Wells Fargo Arena, will take on Gonzaga tonight at 6 p.m.
The trend of ASU playing difficult non-conference teams will continue for the No. 14 Sun Devils (3-2) in this tournament.
"I was trying to think back to when we had a tougher field (at this tournament)," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "These are three NCAA Tournament (quality) teams."
ASU is 3-0 all-time against Gonzaga, including an 81-66 win in Spokane last season.
This year, Turner Thorne expects Gonzaga to be even better.
"They're playing really well right now this early in the season," she said. "The top team in the West Coast Conference is always a very good team."
The Bulldogs won the WCC Tournament last season and were picked to finish second in the conference's preseason coaches' poll.
Gonzaga returns three starters from last year's team, including the WCC 2006-07 Newcomer of the Year, forward Heather Bowman.
The sophomore is averaging 21 points and 9.2 rebounds a game this season.
Turner Thorne said the Bulldogs also have added depth this season, including redshirt freshman guard/forward Janelle Bekkering.
Bekkering is averaging 10 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
ASU junior guard Briann January said she expects both teams to try to get their transition games going tonight, because both ASU and Gonzaga play several guards on the floor at once.
"It will be a fast one," January said.
Gonzaga is also a team many Sun Devils are familiar with, as four ASU players hail from the state of Washington, including Spokane natives January and senior guard Reagan Pariseau.
January, who played high school basketball with Bowman and played club basketball with Gonzaga junior guard Jami Bjorklund, said there is a friendly rivalry between her and her former teammates.
"When I go home I go and play with them," she said. "I can't go home with that loss (to Gonzaga), so that's not going to happen."
Following the Sun Devils' game against Gonzaga, No. 18 Auburn and UC-Riverside square off. ASU will play either one of those teams Sunday at 2 p.m.
UC-Riverside is another team ASU is more than familiar with.
The Highlanders served the Sun Devils a serious scare last season in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Los Angeles.
ASU, a then-No. 3 seed, was down 15 points three times to then-14th-seeded UC-Riverside in the second half before mounting a 19-2 run in the final eight minutes to win, 57-50. ASU created a hole for itself when it turned the ball over nine times and shot only 9-of-27 from the field in the first half.
After slipping past UC-Riverside, the Sun Devils triumphed over Louisville and Bowling Green to reach the Elite Eight, where they were defeated by eventual runner-up Rutgers.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
