USC Rally Falls Short in Arizona State Win

Kristen Kovesdy had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Arizona State’s first double-double of the season, and the Sun Devils held off USC, 49-45, on Thursday night in Tempe, Ariz.

Kylan Loney had 14 points for the Sun Devils, 16-7 overall and 8-5 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Jamie Funn had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Trojans, who had won three of their previous four games. USC (16-7, 10-4) rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half with a 17-3 run to tie the score, 43-43, with 3:37 left.

But Kovesdy scored on a second-chance layup, and Loney followed with a layup. Meghan Gnekow scored her 10th point on a driving layup to cut the lead to 47-45 with 1:45 left, but Jamie Hagiya missed a free throw with 33 seconds remaining and then Eshaya Murphy traveled with 3.3 seconds left to waste two scoring chances.

USC rallied despite shooting 29% from the field (18 of 63) and outrebounding the Sun Devils, 50-40.

Arizona 76, UCLA 73 -- Natalie Jones had 25 points, capping a personal-best night with two free throws that sealed a home win for Arizona (16-8, 8-5 Pac-10). Jones made her free throws with 2.5 seconds left.

Nikki Blue led UCLA (15-8, 9-5) with 20 points. Lisa Willis and Amanda Livingston each had 16 points.

The Wildcats won despite falling behind 16-2 five minutes in, shooting two for 12 to start, but fought back to lead, 32-28, at halftime.