University of Connecticut Athletics
No. 8/8 UConn Upset at Arizona State 61-50
12/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
TEMPE, Ariz. (December 21, 2004) – Senior Ashley Battle (Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored a career-best 21 points but it wasn’t enough as the No. 8/8 University of Connecticut women’s basketball team was upset 61-50 at Arizona State on Tuesday night before a record crowd of 8,927 for a women’s basketball game at Wells Fargo Arena.
The loss drops the Huskies to 4-2 on the season while Arizona State improves to 8-2 with the win.
The defeat marks the earliest that UConn has dropped two games in a season since 1991-92 when it finished 23-11 overall.
Arizona State jumped on the Huskies early as it ran out to an early 6-1 advantage before UConn rallied to take its first lead of the game at 9-8 with 12:43 remaining in the first half.
Connecticut led by as many as nine points in the first half and went into the intermission holding a one-point edge at 31-30.
The Sun Devils came out strong in the second half as they out-scored UConn 8-0 over the opening 4:07 of the period.
The Huskies battled back to claim a 40-38 edge but Arizona State quickly knotted the game at 40-40 with 10:58 remaining.
Neither team led by more than four points over the next 9:12 before the Sun Devils opened up a six-point advantage on an Amy Denson jumper with 1:46 remaining.
Arizona State out-scored UConn 7-2 down the stretch to close out the 11-point victory.
Emily Westerberg paced the Sun Devils in the win with a team-best 18 points, while Kristen Kovesdy added 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field.
Battle, who also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, was the only UConn player to finish in double-figure points.
The Huskies return to action on Thursday, Dec. 23 when they travel to Fort Collins, Colo., to face Colorado State in a 9:00 p.m. (ET) tip.
