The ASU women's basketball team triumphed in one of its two games at the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The No. 14 Sun Devils (3-2) lost to No. 10 Oklahoma, 69-57, on Thursday before coming from behind to beat Iowa, 60-58, on Friday.
The Sooners (2-2) dominated the Sun Devils for most of the game and led by as many as 24 points in the first half.
Oklahoma shot over 60 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes while holding ASU without a field goal for a nine-minute stretch, building the big lead.
"We were sloppy in the first half," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said, according to ASU media relations. "The turnovers did not allow us to get into our defense. Credit Oklahoma, but honestly a lot of it was us not playing well."
The Sun Devils finally ended the drought from the field when junior center Sybil Dosty connected on a jumper in the paint with 1:34 remaining in the first half.
The Sun Devils went on an 8-4 run to end the period, but that still left them trailing 44-24 at the break.
ASU cut into Oklahoma's lead in the second half by holding the Sooners scoreless for nearly four minutes, but it was too little, too late for the Sun Devils as the OU still came away with the 12-point win.
Both members of Oklahoma's inside duo, junior center Courtney Paris and junior forward Ashley Paris had stellar games. Courtney scored 16 points and added 19 rebounds, while Ashley added 21 points.
ASU junior guard Briann January and sophomore guard Dymond Simon each scored 16 points for the Sun Devils.
Turner Thorne said before the game that controlling rebounds would be a huge key to beating Oklahoma, but the Sun Devils were out-rebounded 46-21 in the game.
Against Iowa, the Sun Devils needed a game-winning lay-up in the final three seconds by junior center Kirsten Thompson to hand the Hawkeyes (4-1) their first loss of the season.
The Hawkeyes had one more chance to tie the game on their final possession, but junior guard Kristi Smith lost the ball.
The game was back-and-forth for the entire 40 minutes as both teams exchanged the lead.
After trailing by three with nine minutes remaining in the first half, the Sun Devils went on a 13-0 run to take a 27-17 lead with 4:24 remaining in the period.
Iowa then countered by going on an 11-0 run to regain the lead at halftime, 28-27.
The Hawkeyes led for most of the second half until back-to-back three-pointers by senior guard Reagan Pariseau and senior guard Jill Noe gave the Sun Devils a 54-53 lead with 3:50 remaining.
Iowa tied the game at 58 on a Smith jumper with 25 seconds to go, but then Thompson put the game-winner away on ASU's final possession.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
