After dropping its first two conference road games of the season last week, the ASU women's basketball team will play its final two home games this week, taking on the Washington schools at Wells Fargo Arena.
The Sun Devils (16-9, 10-4 Pac-10) will square off with Washington State at 6:30 p.m. Thursday before matching up with Washington at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
"It's time for March mentality, as we like to say," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We've only got a few guaranteed games left."
The Sun Devils will try to regroup after virtually taking themselves out of the Pac-10 regular season title race with losses to No. 8 Cal and at No. 7 Stanford last week.
"We had a tough week, and we take it hard," Turner Thorne said. "We hadn't been blown out before until Saturday [against Stanford] the whole season, so that was a humbling experience, and it's made everybody refocus and get fired up to come back."
ASU beat both the Cougars (4-21, 1-13 Pac-10), and the Huskies (11-15, 6-8 Pac-10) when it traveled to the Pacific Northwest last month. The Sun Devils were coming off two consecutive losses to Cal and Stanford before those games as well.
In its previous meeting, WSU used a late 12-7 surge in the first half to keep within striking distance of ASU, but a 19-4 run by the Sun Devils in the second half broke that game open.
Senior guard Jill Noe had 13 points and five rebounds, while junior forward Lauren Lacey had 11 points and six rebounds off the bench for ASU.
After starting the Pac-10 season 0-12, the Cougars notched their first conference victory Friday, beating Oregon State, 56-52.
"They're going to be a tougher test this time around," Turner Thorne said. "Every team left on our schedule is going to give us everything and then some because it's that time of year. Every team has a tremendous sense of urgency right now."
WSU junior guard Katie Appleton averages 12.3 points per game for the Cougars and is the conference's leader in 3-point field goal percentage (.416). She has been nursing an ankle injury but WSU coach June Daugherty said she is expected to play Thursday.
"We've got to take away their open looks, because if you let them spot up and shoot it, they can," Turner Thorne said. "They're going to spread us out, attack us off the dribble [and] shoot some threes."
On the inside, junior center Ebonee Coates averages 7.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game for WSU. She did not play in the previous matchup against ASU.
Turner Thorne said limiting turnovers and dictating the pace of the game are also huge keys for the Sun Devils against the Cougars.
"[WSU wants] to make it ugly," she said. "They want to hold the ball. They're going to run some, but most of the time they really want to control the tempo."
Daugherty said that the Cougars will try to slow the game down to counter ASU's aggressive style.
"We're going to have to be extremely calm with the basketball," she said. "We've got to do a great job with transition or [ASU] can just obviously get us in a running game that would be very difficult for us to defend."
Following the game against the Cougars, the Sun Devils will take on Washington Saturday afternoon in the final home game for senior guards Noe and Reagan Pariseau.
"Along with just getting wins, we want to do this for them," junior guard Briann January said. "They've been a crucial part in developing the success of this program, and that's the least we can do."
ASU was unable to put the Huskies away early the last time these two teams met up. But clutch free throws down the stretch preserved the close win for the Sun Devils.
Lacey scored 20 points for ASU in their first meeting with UW, while sophomore forward Kayli Murphy added a career-high 11 points.
Freshman guard Katelan Redmon (12.0 points per game) and sophomore guard Sami Whitcomb (11.1 points per game) are the Huskies' leading scorers.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
