Much like their first meeting in December, UCLA gave the ASU women's basketball team fits.
But also like their first meeting, the Sun Devils (19-9, 13-4 Pac-10) did just enough to put away the pesky Bruin squad, 73-67, to officially lock up the No. 3 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament next week.
The Sun Devils looked like they would cruise to victory at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles when they got out to an early 27-10, but the Bruins (14-14, 9-8 Pac-10) closed the gap to eight points when freshman forward Nina Earl hit two free throws with 4:08 remaining in the half to make the score 31-23.
ASU regained its double-digit lead on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Dymond Simon just 13 seconds later and went into the locker room up 40-28.
But UCLA again clawed its way back, this time in the second half, and cut the Sun Devils' lead to 49-46 when freshman center Regina Rogers made a layup with 10:57 to play.
The game remained close the rest of the way, but the Sun Devils pulled away late when junior guard Briann January hit a free throw to put the Sun Devils up nine with four minutes to go and then sank two more freebies with 1:28 remaining to give the Sun Devils a 70-62 advantage.
January led all scorers with 17 points, including a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line. She also had six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
