The ASU women's basketball team concludes its regular season in Los Angeles this week when it faces UCLA tonight and USC on Saturday.
The Sun Devils (18-9, 12-4 Pac-10) can clinch the No. 3 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament with a win tonight against the Bruins (14-13, 9-7 Pac-10) or a loss by USC to UA.
ASU will also be looking to continue to build on the positive momentum created when the Sun Devils blew out Washington State and Washington at home last week.
"The best thing that we could have done after [the] Cal and Stanford [losses] is respond the way we did [last week]," senior guard Reagan Pariseau said. "It was one of the best overall weekends we put together all season."
It has been exactly two months since ASU and UCLA last played each other in what was the Pac-10 opener for both schools in December. The Sun Devils squeaked by the Bruins at Wells Fargo Arena in that game, 62-59.
With Thursday's game at Pauley Pavilion, ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said beating the Bruins this time would be even tougher.
"They're a very aggressive team at home," she said. "It's going to be a battle."
The Sun Devils got huge performances out of junior center Sybil Dosty and junior forward Lauren Lacey the last time they squared off with the Bruins.
Dosty had a career-high 20 points and 15 rebounds in that game, including the go-ahead basket. The performance helped her earn Pac-10 Player of the Week honors for the opening week of conference play.
Lacey also had a double-double the last time she faced the Bruins, scoring 18 points and adding 10 rebounds.
Lacey is currently the reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week after she averaged 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds against Washington State and Washington last week.
"Anyone can shoot as I shot from the field on Sunday if we just make that extra pass," Lacey said. "I had so many wide-open layups."
Much like the Sun Devils, UCLA is a team with a deep roster that can throw different lineups at the opposition.
"You don't even really know who's going to start on their team," Turner Thorne said. "They have so many weapons."
One player that will almost certainly be in the starting lineup for UCLA is senior forward Lindsey Pluimer, who leads the Bruins in scoring (14.5 points per game) and rebounding (6.4 per game).
"You've got to keep track of Pluimer," Turner Thorne said. "If you give her any open looks, she's pretty much going to knock them down."
The Bruins also rely heavily on their freshmen class, with three rookies regularly in the starting lineup and five averaging double-digit minutes.
After Pluimer, the next three leading scorers for the Bruins are all freshmen. Forward Nina Earl averages 8.6 points per game, guard Doreena Campbell averages 8.4 points per game and guard Darxia Morris averages 7.8 points per game.
"I've been really impressed [with their freshmen], especially their guard play," Turner Thorne said. "The future looks very bright for UCLA."
Morris scored 14 points in her first career meeting with the Sun Devils, while Campbell had 12 points and a career-high eight assists and six rebounds.
The Bruins struggled on the road last week, barely beating Oregon State in the final seconds, 55-52, before falling to Oregon, 66-55, on Saturday.
After UCLA, the Sun Devils will then take the quick trip to USC for their regular season finale.
ASU also barely edged past the Women of Troy (17-10, 10-6 Pac-10) when the two teams first played in Tempe last December.
The Sun Devils had to rally from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat USC, 66-63.
Lacey (17 points) and Dosty (14 points) led the scoring attack for the Sun Devils in that game as well.
USC junior center Nadia Parker averages 12.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game her team, while junior guard Camille LeNoir averages 10.4 points and 4.1 assists per game.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
