Senior sendout highlights ASU win versus Washington

 by Gina Mizell
 published on Monday, February 25, 2008

Deanna Dent / THE STATE PRESS

GRAPPLE AND GRAB: Sophomore guard Gabby Fage loses the ball to Washington guard Sara Mosiman during Sunday afternoon’s game at Wells Fargo Arena.

Reagan Pariseau pumped one finger into the air, let out a huge scream and sprinted off the court after banking in a desperation 3-pointer as the first half buzzer sounded to give the ASU women's basketball team a 38-23 lead over Washington at Wells Fargo Arena Sunday afternoon.

"If you can believe this, we practice those kinds of shots after practice sometimes," Pariseau said. "It was a great outlet pass, [I] let the ball roll a little bit and I just had a good feeling. I knew it was going in."

It was the perfect send off for Pariseau and fellow senior guard Jill Noe, as the Sun Devils (18-9, 12-4 Pac-10) trounced the Huskies 69-53 in their final home game of the season.

"I am so happy that our team really probably had maybe our best collective effort of the year on this particular day," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "[Noe and Pariseau's] leadership and their play has led our women's basketball program to unprecedented success, and anything short of this would not have honored their legacy."

Pariseau ended the game with nine points, all on 3-pointers, while Noe finished with four points, nine assists and four rebounds.

"It was just a great day," Noe said. "[I] couldn't have asked to go out on a better note."

The victory, coupled with the win over Washington State last Thursday, keeps the Sun Devils in sole possession of third place in the Pac-10 going into the final weekend of the regular season.

"As a coach you say to yourself, 'How's our team going to respond to coming off the road, getting beat [by Cal and Stanford last week]?'" Turner Thorne said. "They responded as well as I could have possibly asked for them to."

The Sun Devils started the game on a 10-2 run before a 7-0 spurt by the Huskies (12-16, 7-9 Pac-10) sliced ASU's lead to one with 14:30 to play in the first half.

ASU then went on a 14-2 run to build a double-digit lead midway through the period.

After a 3-pointer by UW sophomore guard Sami Whitcomb got the Huskies within eight, ASU sophomore guard Dymond Simon answered with her own trey, sparking a 10-3 run by the Sun Devils to close out the first half.

ASU built a 20-point lead early in the second half before an 11-0 run by UW reduced the Sun Devil lead to 45-36, giving the Huskies an ounce of life with 15:27 to go.

But that resurgence didn't last long.

The Sun Devils built their lead back up to 20-points on a layup by Noe with 8:41 left, and were up by as many as 23 when junior forward Lauren Lacey made a layup with 2:47 remaining in the game.

"We have such unselfish teammates," Pariseau said. "People are looking to make the extra pass and get shooters open, and people were knocking down shots."

Slightly overshadowed by the festivities of senior day was Lacey's performance. She posted a career-high 25 points and 11 rebounds.

"Lauren was outstanding," Turner Thorne said. "The best thing about Lauren's performance was she let things come to her. I don't remember one bad shot."

The Sun Devils also blasted their second consecutive opponent on the boards, out-rebounding the Huskies 39-21.

"We took a page out of Stanford and Cal's notebook in the fact that we need to rebound both offensively and defensively," Noe said. "I just saw everyone in there crashing on defense and on offense."

Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.