UW Women's Basketball
UW women pull out hard-fought victory

By Greg Bishop
Seattle Times staff reporter

	MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES Washington's Gioconda Mendiola tries to dribble past Arizona State's Kylan Loney last night at Edmundson Pavilion.
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Three words can only begin to do justice to the relatively recent and completely controversial rivalry between the women's basketball teams from Washington and Arizona State.

No love lost.

Just tempers and composure and, eventually, a game every time the two schools finish another backroom brawl-turned-basketball lovefest.

Last night's game had a little bit of everything — 47 fouls, 35 turnovers, countless scuffles, numerous scrums and a postgame slap after the Huskies finished off the Sun Devils 63-55 in front of 3,679 at Edmundson Pavilion.

"I don't like them," UW guard Giuliana Mendiola said bluntly. "Our team doesn't like them. They don't like us."

And you thought Oregon Ducks weren't warmly received on Montlake Boulevard.

Mendiola promised during the week that she had something saved for the Sun Devils from an overtime loss in late December. She delivered, scoring 31 points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing four assists, along with an unusually high five turnovers.

If not for 15 first-half points from Mendiola — among the team's total of 26 — the Huskies might have been blown out of their own building. Kylan Loney gave Arizona State a 32-26 lead with a long three-pointer at the halftime buzzer, and she turned toward Mendiola and started yapping.

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The Huskies opened the second half on a 6-0 run, filled with all the scrapping and clawing and pushing this rivalry has required in recent games. Arizona State guard Betsy Boardman picked up her fourth foul early in the second half, and Central Valley graduate Emily Westerberg sprained her ankle a minute later, limiting depth on one of the Pac-10's deeper benches.

Behind a free-throw advantage larger than it has had in some weeks — 35 UW attempts to 14 for ASU — Washington pulled away with a 10-1 run in the second half. Arizona State cut the deficit to 52-51, but the Huskies responded with six free throws and a basket from Cameo Hicks (nine points) to seal one of their biggest wins this season. Andrea Lalum added 15 points for UW, 13 in the second half.

The Huskies have won four of their last five games. More important, unless Oregon State upsets No. 10 Stanford on Saturday, Washington has wrapped up the No. 6 seed for the Pac-10 tournament and a first-round bye.

While the Huskies celebrated that accomplishment, though, the fireworks continued. According to four witnesses and following more yapping from both sides, Gioconda Mendiola slapped Loney in the high-five line after the game.

Loney left the floor holding her face and crying, and police talked with Washington officials in the bowels of Edmundson Pavilion while security tried to usher the media away.

"Their coach said to me that one of our players slapped one of their players," UW coach June Daugherty said. "I asked our player. She said she went to high-five her and she moved her hand. It wasn't intentional. I made my apologies to (ASU coach) Charli (Turner Thorne). That's not what we're about. And I don't think that's what this was about."

Turner Thorne and Loney both declined to comment as Arizona State ducked out of the arena as quickly as possible.

If you could catch the basketball between the brawling, there were several positive signs for the Huskies. They're playing their best basketball of the season, especially with regard to post defense.

All that's left is a date with second-place Arizona on Saturday in the last home game for the Huskies' seniors.

"One more game," Daugherty said, "and a big one."

Like a rivalry with the Sun Devils that shows no signs of slowing. The best part is that if the Huskies finish sixth and the Sun Devils finish third, as expected, they would meet in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament next weekend in San Jose.

"They're upset they lost, and we're just really excited that we won," said Giuliana Mendiola, who moved into second on the all-time UW scoring chart last night. "Like I said, we don't like each other. I'd love to play them again."

ARIZONA STATE
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Johnson	27	2-6	1-2	3-7	0	3	5
Kovesdy	23	1-3	0-0	0-7	2	3	2
Loney	35	3-9	3-3	0-1	5	3	12
Boardman	20	2-9	4-4	2-3	0	4	9
Buckner	27	1-8	0-0	2-3	4	5	2
Westerberg	10	2-2	0-0	0-2	1	2	4
Stagg	7	0-1	0-0	1-1	0	0	0
Godette	18	2-4	2-2	1-2	1	5	6
Denson	16	3-6	3-3	2-8	0	2	9
Rosenthal	3	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	2	0
Thigpin	14	3-5	0-0	0-1	0	0	6
Totals		19-54	13-14	12-38	14	29	55

Percentages: FT: .352, FT: .929. Three-point goals: 4-14 (Johnson 0-2, Loney 3-5, Boardman 1-6, Denson 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 1 (Buckner 1). Turnovers: 22 (Loney 4, Johnson 3, Stagg 3, Godette 3, Boardman 2, Denson 2, Kovesdy 1, Buckner 1, Westerberg 1, Rosenthal 1, Thigpin 1). Steals: 5 (Boardman 2, Kovesdy 1, Buckner 1, Rosenthal 1). Technical fouls: None.

WASHINGTON
min		fgm-a	ftm-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Lalum	35	4-9	6-6	2-4	1	2	15
Bell	29	1-6	2-4	3-13	1	4	4
Mendiola, Giu.	40	7-14	16-20	3-7	4	2	31
Mendiola, Gio.	38	0-8	0-0	0-1	1	2	0
Hicks	22	4-9	1-3	2-2	1	3	9
Castro	2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0
Jones	18	1-4	0-0	0-0	0	2	2
O'Hara	16	1-1	0-2	1-4	0	2	2
Totals		18-52	25-35	12-35	8	18	63

Percentages: FT: .346, FT: .714. Three-point goals: 2-7 (Lalum 1-1, Mendiola, Giu. 1-1, Mendiola, Gio. 0-4, Castro 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 3 (Lalum 1, Bell 1, Mendiola, Gio. 1). Turnovers: 13 (Mendiola, Giu. 5, Lalum 2, Bell 2, Mendiola, Gio. 2, Hicks 1, O'Hara 1). Steals: 10 (Mendiola, Gio. 3, Jones 2, Lalum 1, Bell 1, Hicks 1, O'Hara 1, Mendiola, Giu. 1). Technical fouls: None.

Arizona State	32	23	55
Washington	26	37	63

Attendance: 3,679. Officials: Clarke Stevens, Gator Parrish, Darren Krzesnik.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company