For the second straight game, seniors Becca Tobin and Dymond Simon led the ASU women’s basketball team in scoring.
But this time, the rest of team was primed and ready to go, and the Sun Devils (15-8, 7-6 Pac-10) rolled over Washington, 71-63.
“We were really just trying to have fun and just get in the moment more,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said in a radio interview. “That was the biggest issue last Sunday.”
The Huskies (10-13, 5-9) were able to pull within three points with seven minutes left, but weren’t able to stop Tobin, who finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
“We just gave her the ball and let her go to work,” Turner Thorne said. “She’s just playing outstanding right now.”
Simon added 16 points and was three for four from the three-point line.
UW had four players in double figures and had a plus-eight margin in turnovers, but it wasn’t enough.
The Sun Devils out-rebounded the Huskies 35-28, which was the real key to the game, Tobin said.
“We knew we had to box out and rebound to win the game,” Tobin said. “That’s why we haven’t been winning basketball games, because we’re not controlling the boards. We’re just really getting back to that.”
Junior guard Kristi Kingma finished with 18 points to lead the Huskies, but Turner Thorne was very happy with the way sophomore guard Deja Mann guarded Kingma down the stretch.
“She really did the lion’s share of the work on Kristi Kingma, who was 5-for-20, and to me that’s the game,” Turner Thorne said.
The game got off to a pretty slow start and went back and forth until ASU went on an 11-0 run 12 minutes in, which included 3-pointers from Simon and junior forward Kimberly Brandon.
Those early baskets from outside forced UW to come out to defend and opened up their zone defense, Simon said.
“It was just hitting some key outside shots,” Simon said. “They had to come out of it the second half, and that’s when Becca Tobin got going.”
That run put ASU up by 12, and the Sun Devils would carry that margin into halftime.
Brandon almost had a double-double in the first half alone, but would finish just shy, with 13 points and nine rebounds.
ASU would stretch their lead out to 14 at the start of the second half, but the Huskies would start to pull the Sun Devils back, led by senior guard Sarah Morton.
After a 12-2 run, UW was within three points of ASU, and things got worse when ASU redshirt junior Kali Bennett aggravated a thumb injury and left the game with nine minutes left.
“She tore a ligament [previously],” Turner Thorne said. “But she’s a tough kid, and I’m hopeful that she’s able to go. But I haven’t heard anything for sure.”
Tobin was not about to let the game slip away, however, and hit four straight shots to fight off the UW push.
Quick baskets by Mann, Tobin and Simon would give the Sun Devils a 10-point lead with 5:18 left, and ASU wouldn’t look back after that.
The rest of the game was drawn out by UW’s attempt to foul to get back into the game.
The Sun Devils would finish with 48.9 percent shooting from the floor, their second-best shooting effort this season.
More important for Turner Thorne was the defense. The Huskies were held to just 36.7 percent shooting.
“We brought it tonight,” Turner Thorne said. “We weren’t going to give them those threes, and we weren’t going to give them that inside game.”
ASU now looks to the afternoon matchup at Washington State on Saturday, and rebounding again will be key, Tobin said.
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
