Sun Devils Burn Up Anteaters

By Mark Anderson: SPM Website Editor
Posted Saturday, December 16, 2006

Irvine, CA. -- Ten days since their last game, the UC Irvine Anteaters came out grinding the gears on Thursday, unable to generate any offence against the visiting 10th ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. They found themselves down 17-0 before scoring their first points on a free throw, after nearly 6 and half minutes of play. Their first field goal, scored by Angie Ned, came much later with 10:23 left in the first half. Never looking back, ASU went on to win 75 to 46.

ASU's tenacious defense made UCI's players work the full length of the floor. The Sun Devils defenders were not even willing to concede the inbound pass after a made basket, turning the ordinary into an opportunity for error. Sun Devil freshman Dymond Simon lead all players in steals, accounting for 3 of the Anteaters' 24 turnovers in the game.

"Arizona State has a great defense," said UC Irvine coach Molly Tuter.

ASU was shaking off the rust from the academic finals break themselves and had 22 turnovers, the average for UCI opponents this season. Still, the starting guard play for the Sun Devils was strong with Reagan Pariseau and Briann January both having 4 assists and just one turnover.

ASU is just now getting a chance to settle in with a full strength roster, which may account for some of the miscues. And, although a road game, it wasn't really an opportunity to play in front of a hostile crowd. UC Irvine is on break, and the ASU fans equaled if not outnumbered those supporting UCI.

Angie Ned and Naomi Halman led UCI with 11 points apiece. Stephanie Duda grabbed 11 rebounds, 7 on offense. UCI's leading scorer for the season, Kelly Cochran, recently injured in practice, did not play.

Emily Westerberg and Dymond Simon paced the Sun Devils with 13 points apiece. Westerberg was a perfect 6 for 6 from the field. Aubree Johnson and Danielle Orsillo helped balance out the the scoring with 12 each. Kirsten Thompson led Arizona State with 6 rebounds.

With the outcome of the game never really in question, there was a lot of opportunity to ponder the prominent back story. In 1996, Charli Turner Thorne took over head coaching responsibilities at ASU. The star player, a senior who went on to lead the team in scoring, rebounds, FG percentage, 3-pt percentage, FT percentage, and steals, was Molly Tuter. Molly Tuter took over as the full time head coach at UCI in 2005. The situation is a bit of a role reversal for Turner Thorne, who faces off twice a year in the Pac-10 against her former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.

Tuter is still number three on the all time scoring list at ASU, a position current senior Emily Westerberg may challenge this year. With her 20 points in the recent ASU win versus Gonzaga, Westerberg became the 17th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

It's been a busy month for Westerberg. On Monday, she was also named to the top 50 watch list for this year's Naismith Award.

Upcoming games:

UCI travels to Reno to take on Nevada on December 17th and then to Las Vegas to play UNLV on December 19.

ASU's next game in December 18th against visiting Texas Tech. The game is the feature of the Hoops for Health Classic, played outdoors at Chase Field (Formerly Bank One Ballpark) in Phoenix. Pac-10 play begins for the Sun Devils on December 22, when they host cross state rival Arizona.