One of Charli Turner Thorne's signature catch phrases is, "If you control the boards, you control the game."
And it was No. 9 California that got the better of the ASU women's basketball team on the glass Thursday night at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. The 70-60 result in favor of Cal gave the Sun Devils (16-8, 10-3 Pac-10) their first conference road loss of the season.
The Golden Bears (22-3, 13-1 Pac-10) out-rebounded the Sun Devils 42-29 in the game. Nineteen of those boards were offensive, which led to 24 second-chance points for Cal.
ASU took an early seven-point lead when junior center Sybil Dosty made a layup and completed a three-point play to put the Sun Devils up 17-10 midway through the first half.
Cal later came back, taking a 27-23 lead on a jumper by freshman guard Kelsey Adrian with 1:31 before the break.
ASU went on a late 4-0 run to tie the game at 27, but a three-pointer by Cal sophomore guard Natasha Vital with four seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 30-27 lead at the half.
Cal began to pull away midway through the second half. A three-pointer by sophomore guard Lauren Greif put the Golden Bears up 56-43 with six minutes to go.
ASU fought back, narrowing Cal's lead to seven, when a three-pointer by senior guard Reagan Pariseau with 28 seconds left put the Sun Devils behind 67-60.
But that was the closest ASU would get.
Both members of Cal's inside tandem — junior center Devanei Hampton and junior forward Ashley Walker — had a double-double. Hampton scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Walker had 15 points and 11 boards.
Dosty also had a double-double, scoring 10 points and nabbing down 11 rebounds for the Sun Devils.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
