Here they go again.
Round 3 of the women’s basketball rivalry between Arizona and Arizona State will take place at the Pac-12 Tournament this week.
The teams will meet at Key Arena in Seattle with much more at stake than the two earlier meetings: a chance to advance in the Pac-12 Tournament, which runs from Thursday through Sunday.
The nightcap Thursday tips off at 9:30 p.m. and pits No. 6-seeded ASU (19-11, 10-8) against No. 11-UA (6-23, 2-16). This is the third consecutive year that UA is seeded 11th.
“To play your rival three times within two weeks is challenging,” said ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne. “When it gets to postseason everyone is playing for one thing. There is an urgency. It is difficult to beat a team three times, we all know that. We played two tough, competitive games (against the UA). We’re not taking anything for granted.
“Arizona is a well-coached team. They took Oregon to the wire in that last home game.”
These teams played on Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, with the Sun Devils coming out on top in both games. These are the only two wins for ASU over the last six games. Both Arizona schools dropped two games to No. 6 Oregon and No. 10 Oregon State this past weekend.
After bringing the energy for the full 40 minutes against Oregon on Sunday, UA coach Adia Barnes isn’t concerned about her team getting up for this game.
“This is a big weekend to play our rival,” said Barnes. “If we play with the same energy and intensity as we did against Oregon, we have a chance to get a win. Believe me, our team will be motivated.”
Basketball on the back burner for WSU
As the Pac-12 women’s basketball programs are preparing for the tournament, Washington State assistant coach Mike Daughtery put it all into perspective, saying in life “there are more important things than basketball.”
His comment came on a pre-tournament conference call with all the Pac-12 coaches Tuesday.
He was referring to everything that the Cougars have endured this season. His wife and head coach, June, has an undisclosed illness and took leave from the program in January. Recently she went back into a Spokane hospital for another procedure, and seems to be responding well.
On Saturday, the program was hit with another setback. The director, strength and conditioning for the women’s team, David Lang, passed away suddenly from a heart attack.
“We had a major tragedy losing David,” said Daugherty. “He was close to our ladies and mentored some of them. I don’t know what we’ll see Thursday. We’ve rallied with all that has happened this year without our leader, June, however I don’t know how much is left in the tank.
“We’ll find out.”
While Daugherty has been at the hospital with June, assistant coaches Ashley Gill and Rod Jensen have been keeping the team together as much as possible to help them with this loss.
WSU (10-19, 3-14) is seeded No. 10 and squares off against No. 7 USC (19-10, 9-9) at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Making a run
in the tournament
Like the Wildcats, USC has been playing with a short bench this season. First-year head coach Mark Trakh knows it will be tough making a run.
“We’ll take it a possession at a time,” said Trakh. “Our starters play a lot of minutes and will have to play through. We can’t go to the waiver wire and pick up someone else. If we make a long run it will be difficult going back-to-back on two nights.”
Bruins facing pressure to win
UCLA seniors Jordin Canada, Monique Billings, and Kelli Hayes have been waiting for this moment their entire collegiate career.
They joined the Bruins as part of the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation four years ago with high expectations. UCLA coach Cori Close said her team is “excited about resetting the button” for postseason play. While she wants to win a Pac-12 tourney, she’s looking further down the road.
“I don’t want (the Pac-12 tournament title) to be the end all and be all,” said Close, whose team is ranked No. 9 nationally. “It’s not what we’re built for; we’re built for a long NCAA tourney run.”
UCLA is the No. 4-seed in the tourney and plays the winner of No. 5-seeded Cal vs No. 12 Washington on Friday. If the bracket plays true to form, UCLA will play No.1-seeded Oregon and then have to face the winner of No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 Oregon State for the title.
Stanford started off the season with tough losses to No. 1 UConn, No. 3 Baylor, No. 12 Tennessee, and two losses to No. 13 Ohio State.
Healthy and at full strength, Stanford ran through the Pac-12 season, losing only three games — to ASU, UCLA and rival Cal.
Oregon State coach Scott Reuck is taking the next few days to prepare his team for what it’s going to take to win and remind his players that “it’s just a court and just a ball.” OSU is on a roll, going 9-1 over the last 10 games to finish 23-6.
All-Pac-12 honors
Arizona’s Sam Thomas was named to the coach’s All-Freshman Team and JaLea Bennett picked up honorable mention All-Pac 12. Thomas is the first UA freshman to earn this honor since Davellyn Whyte in 2009-2010 season.
Thomas is the only player in the Pac-12 to average both 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks and finish in the top 12 in rebounding, steals and blocks. She was tops for all freshman in averages per game for rebounding (7.1), steals, blocks, and minutes played (36.2). She finished second in scoring, averaging 10.2 points per game.
Bennett’s 14 points per game landed her 13th in the conference. She accumulated career-highs this season with 406 points, 120 rebounds, 91 made free throws, and 37 steals.
League honors went to Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu (Player of Year), UCLA’s Jordin Canada (Defensive Plyer of Year), Oregon’s Satou Sabally (Freshman of Year) and Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer (Coach of Year).
