Jill Noe reached the 1,000-career point mark and was one of four Sun Devils who scored in double-figures, but it was not enough for the ASU women's basketball team as it lost to No. 18 Auburn, 75-69, Sunday in the championship game of the ASU Verizon Wireless Classic.
It's the first time the No. 14 Sun Devils (4-3) have not won their annual holiday tournament in seven years.
"We didn't have the level of focus I would have liked defensively at times," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "(In the) first half especially, we let them play to their strengths."
The Sun Devils started cold, missing their first five shots and not recording a point for the first three minutes of the game.
The Tigers (8-0) built a nine point lead in the first half before an 8-4 run by the Sun Devils in the last 3:30 brought ASU within five points at the break.
"We just had trouble keeping (Auburn's guards) in front of us," Noe said. "It's a matter of digging in and giving that extra effort, and I think we didn't do that consistently today and their guards definitely exposed it."
Auburn maintained the lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half until a lay-up by ASU junior center Lauren Lacey and a three-pointer from junior guard Briann January gave the Sun Devils their first lead of the game, 53-50.
ASU built a six-point lead, but Auburn came roaring back and took the lead for good on a three-pointer by senior guard Tamela McCorvey with three minutes to play.
"When we get a lead, we need to put our foot down and keep going with it," Noe said. "We'll get a lead, and then we'll relax, and then we'll have to get back another lead, and then we'll relax."
ASU made it a one possession game when sophomore guard Dymond Simon hit a jumper with 42 seconds to go, but Auburn junior guard DeWanna Bonner was fouled while making a lay-up with 15 seconds remaining and made the ensuing free throw to seal the game for the Tigers.
"We got great looks down the stretch," Turner Thorne said. "It wasn't like we fell apart or didn't execute. We got great shots; we didn't hit them. They did hit them."
Auburn junior guard Sherell Hobbs led all scorers with 26 points, with 18 of them coming in the second half.
Bonner also had a double-double for the Tigers with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Noe's 16 points allowed her to become the 18th Sun Devil in school history to score 1,000 career points.
Lacey scored 20 points for the Sun Devils and added eight rebounds, while January had 11 points and five assists.
Simon scored 12 points while starting in place of senior guard Reagan Pariseau, who is day-to-day with a right ankle injury suffered in Friday's win against Gonzaga.
"I thought we tried to adjust without Reagan," Turner Thorne said. "We went with a very short rotation, and that's not who we are or what we want to be. We want to be the team that kicks into gear with 10 minutes to go and runs you off the floor."
With the loss, the Sun Devils dropped to 0-3 against ranked teams this season.
To reach the championship game, the Sun Devils soundly defeated Gonzaga on Friday night, 78-60.
The Sun Devils used a 13-0 run in the first half to build a 15-point lead, then a 10-0 run in the second half to gain a 61-42 advantage while on their way to the easy victory.
"All in all, (it was) a great team win," Turner Thorne said. "We put that game away toward the middle-end of the second half and just did a really good job of balancing our scoring attack."
The Sun Devil defense also held Gonzaga standout sophomore forward Heather Bowman scoreless in the first half. However, she came back in the second half and scored 20 of the Bulldogs' (4-3) 30 total points in the period and added 11 rebounds.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
