The ASU women's basketball team overcame a sluggish start to the second half to beat USC, 65-57, in its regular season finale Saturday in Los Angeles.
The Sun Devils (20-9, 14-4 Pac-10) were held without a field goal for the first six-plus minutes after intermission and allowed the Trojans (17-12, 10-8 Pac-10) to take a 37-33 lead. But a layup by ASU senior guard Jill Noe at the 13:24 mark sparked an 18-2 run that put the Sun Devils back on top for good.
"That's one thing about us, that we have had the experience of coming back and [playing in] lots of close games," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "It's just a matter of one timeout going, 'Hey guys, we're OK. Let's get back to doing what we do,' and they do. Sometimes we're quick to lose our focus, but we're also very quick to get it back."
The Sun Devils had already clinched the No. 3 seed in the Pac-10 tournament after Thursday's win at UCLA. But the victory over USC also gave ASU its fourth straight 20-win season for the first time in school history.
"It's what we expect, to be honest," Turner Thorne said. "We feel like we've gotten over the hump, now it's more getting to 25 and 30 wins. It's a testament to the players that have been in the program in the last four, five or six years, and the coaching staff."
Saturday's win was also ASU's fourth straight, keeping the Sun Devils undefeated against all Pac-10 foes who don't reside in northern California.
The Sun Devils and Trojans traded leads for the first 14 minutes of the game, but a layup by junior guard Briann January with 5:46 to go in the first half put the Sun Devils up 21-19, and on top for the rest of the period.
The Sun Devils got their largest lead of the half in the final minute when sophomore guard Dymond Simon drained a 3-pointer to put ASU up 32-25 at the break.
ASU then came out of the locker room flat, which allowed a USC team — fighting for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament — to go on a 12-1 run to get back in the game in a hurry and eventually take the lead.
"[USC knows] they're on the bubble," Turner Thorne said. "There was a lot at stake. It was senior day, so [there was] a lot of extra incentive for USC beyond just a normal game and I knew we would need to overcome that."
A 3-pointer by USC sophomore guard Heather Oliver tied the game at 33 with 16:53 remaining, and a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Aarika Hughes gave the Trojans a 35-33 advantage with 15 minutes to play in the game.
But the Sun Devil offense woke up shortly after that and used the huge surge, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Noe and senior guard Reagan Pariseau, to regain control of the game. ASU took a comfortable 51-39 lead with seven minutes left to play.
"Jill and Reagan's back-to-back threes were daggers," Turner Thorne said. "They really, I thought, probably broke USC's back to some degree."
USC reduced that margin to six on two occasions in the final two minutes, but could not get any closer.
Noe scored all of her 11 points in the second half and also added six assists and five rebounds in the winning effort.
Lacey had 14 points and six rebounds for the Sun Devils, while junior center Kirsten Thompson scored 10 points off the bench.
Junior guard Camille LeNoir scored 19 points for USC, which was without leading scorer and rebounder Nadia Parker beacuse of a knee injury.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
