Cal and Arizona State started the season in much the same place. Struggling. Questioning. Needing to rally out of a tough spot with young players who have never done it before.

ASU's Danielle Orsillo celebrates game-winning basket - ASU athletics, Steve Rodriguez

And now the Bears and the Sun Devils end the first half of the conference schedule in the same place, tied for fourth in the conference standings with 5-4 records after Danielle Orsillo’s baseline jumper with .5 seconds on the clock vaulted ASU to a 63-61 victory at Haas Pavilion.

“I need to sit down,” Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I feel like I played.”

Turner Thorne said it was a big day for her team, who showed important resilience.

“We just said, ‘Let’s get tough. Let’s get aggressive. Let’s win this stupid game.’ And we did that,” Turner Thorne said. “We waited a little bit.”

Turner Thorne said she challenged her team after Thursday’s loss to Stanford in which ASU had a halftime lead, but was blown out in the final 20 minutes to lose 71-48.

“We need to be tougher, people need to step up,” Turner Thorne said. “It’s almost the end here. I thought this was the best our team has done in playing in the moment and that’s why we won. We didn’t panic.”

The Sun Devils outscored Cal 14-2 over the final four minutes of the game, rallying from a 59-49 deficit with 4:33 to go. The Sun Devils out-rebounded Cal 6-0 in that span. The Bears scored just two field-goals in the final 7:42 of the game.

“We weren’t guarding very well, so we were trying to play some zone,” Boyle said. “But we weren’t making baskets from the four-minute mark, it forced us into man because of transition and they were attacking.”

Cal ended a five-game winning streak with a tough-to-swallow loss. The Bears have lost nine games this season, four of them by a total of 14 points. This was the third game this season Cal has lost in the final moments.

It was a big day in the young career of Bears freshman forward Gennifer Brandon who established a career-high with 18 points and nine rebounds. She had special motivation in the game, playing against her sister Kimberly, a sophomore forward at ASU.

“It was pretty fun (playing against my sister)”, said Brandon. “I didn’t really want to block her shot, but I had to because it was from her team. She is not on my team.”

The Sun Devils did a good job against Cal guard Alexis Gray-Lawson, coming off a total of 86 points in her last two games. Lawson finished with 14 points on 6 of 20 shooting from the floor.

“It’s going to come back and haunt us if we just allow Lexi to be our only scorer,” Boyle said. “I’m happy when she can, but we’ve got to get more movement.”

ASU finally made its run by putting some baskets together. The Sun Devils hadn’t made consecutive baskets the entire half until the final game-winning rally.

Orsillo finished with 20 points in the game. The senior shooting guard also made a key steal and layup that got ASU within 59-55 with three minutes to go.

“We need that from her,” Turner Thorne said.

Both ASU and Cal need a big second-half rally and some good Pac-10 wins to improve their shaky NCAA prospects. The teams that have been in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions in the Pac-10 for the past few years are now looking up at USC and UCLA, and of course the unbeaten Stanford Cardinal.

“We are so young and you can’t look any further than the game in front of you,” Boyle said. “The conference race, the conference standings…we’ve just go to let this one go. We’ve got USC next and it’s all about them. Because if we try and make it too big, we will stumble.”

• Always knew that Kate Starbird would make something of herself. Read it at Fanhouse. http://bit.ly/9U5JfR #
• Best of the West power rankings for the week. http://bit.ly/7fhG7u #

Coming out of half: Arizona State 27, Cal 27.

• Bears out with two quick baskets. A jumper by Gray-Lawson and a transition basket to DeNesha Stallworth. ASU calls timeout at 18:45, down 31-27.
• Cal scores again off Eliza Pierre steal. Bears up 33-27 at 18:24.
• Bears off to a 10-2 run, now up 37-29. Orsillo scores again to make it 37-31. She’s scored both of ASU’s baskets in the half so far. Stallworth has eight points in the half so far after a scoreless first half.
• Officials checking the time on the clock on the replay.
• Media timeout at 15:01. Cal up 41-33.
• Cal is owning this game inside, despite a 21-20 rebounding advantage. Brandon and Stallworth starting the half very strong.
• Offense is picking up for both teams now. Cal shooting 50 percent, ASU 48.6.
• Arizona State being hurt, however, by 14 turnovers.
• Cal’s pressuring the ballhandlers heavily right now, trying to create more offense from defense.
• Bears up 51-41 after two free-throws by DeNesha Stallworth.
• Gray-Lawson picks up third foul with 11:23 to go.
• If Cal can hold on here and close the first half of the Pac-10 schedule at 6-3 after an 0-3 start, that’s something to be proud of.
• Cal up 57-47 with 5:30 to go. Bears are holding on well. Gennifer Brandon has established a career-high with her 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting and nine rebounds so far.
• Gray-Lawson is human again with 14 points on 6 of 18 shooting from the floor.
• ASU can’t make headway. The Sun Devils haven’t scored consecutive baskets in the second half. Cal has a response each time.
• Here’s the Sun Devils run. A 6-0 spurt to cut Cal’s lead to 59-55 with less than three minutes. The Bears answer by going inside to Gennifer Brandon. 61-55.
• Orsillo hits a pair of free throws at 2:38 and it’s back to 61-57. ASU calls a 30-second timeout.
• Just noticed (sorry,…) both Brandon sisters wearing No. 25. Well that didn’t take me too long.
• Kimberly Brandon two free-trhwos and its 61-59. ASU on a 10-2 run.
• Tenaya Watson to the line for 1 and 1 after hard foul on perimeter by Gennifer Brandon, not the best idea. 1:11 to go. First free-throw in. Second in. Score’s tied 61-61.
• Gray-Lawson travels on a spin move. Ball to ASU with 53.5 to go.
• ASU calls a full timeout at 43.3.
• Sun Devils turn over the in-bounds pass. AGL misses 3-pointer at the other end. ASU gets defensive rebound.
• Kali Bennett shot inside misses. Scrum for the rebound. Jump ball. Posession ASU. Danielle Orsillo scores on in-bounds, off the dribble with a 10-foot jumper from the baseline with .5 on the clock. Clutch shot. Orsillo has 20 points.
• This could well be second time this year that Cal gets beat on a shot near the buzzer. Ashley Corral beat the Bears at the buzzer at USC.
• Orsillo intercepts in-bounds pass and ASU hangs on for 63-61 win.
• Splitting the Bay Area trip was about as good as ASU could hope for.
• ASU is 13-7, 5-4
• Cal is 11-9, 5-4.

Refresh as we go…

Starting lineups:

Arizona State

13 Danielle Orsillo G

21 Kayli Murphy F/C

25 Kimberly Brandon G/F

32 Becca Tobin F

35 Tenaya Watson G

Cal

4 Eliza Pierre G

23 Layshia Clarendon G

21 Alexis Gray-Lawson

11 DeNesha Stallworth

25 Gennifer Brandon

Gametime

• Today’s game matches up sisters Gennifer and Kimberly Brandon. Gennifer Brandon is a freshman post for Cal who has started four games for the Bears this season. Kimberly Brandon, a sophomore, is also in ASU’s starting lineup.
• Alexis Gray-Lawson, who is averaging more than 30 points a game during Cal’s five-game win streak, hits a short jumper to get on the board at 19:20.
• As to be expected by two defensive-oriented teams, a 5-4 game at the media timeout with 15:41 to go.
• ASU 2 for 8 from the field to star. Cal 2 for 7.
• Kimberly Brandon picks up second foul at 13:33. Scored tied at 8-8.
• ASU doing a good job so far limiting Gray-Lawson’s touches. She’s 2 for 4 in first eight minutes.
• Media timeout, 11:24. ASU 12, Cal 10.
• Alex Earl hits a 3-pointer and ASU goes up 17-12. Gray-Lawson needs to get the ball.
• Media timeout 8:59 to go. ASU 19, Cal 12.
• Cal surges back. Two straight baskets, a leaner on the baseline by Gray-Lawson and two straight scores by Brenna Heater makes it 19-18 with 7:25 to go.
• Gray-Lawson picks up second foul with 6:06 to go in the half. She goes to the bench for Lauren Grief, in the game for the first time. Grief, a starter for most of her Cal career, is averaging 15.6 minutes per game off the bench.
• Cal retakes the lead on a Eliza Pierre layup in traffic. She draws the foul and misses free-throw, but Bears are up 20-19 with 5:23 to go. Arizona State hasn’t scored since 9:01. Almost four minutes.
• Danielle Orsillo breaks the drought with a jumper from the right wing.
• Gennifer Brandon must be feeling the motivation today. She’s having a great game with seven points, three rebounds and now a big steal and layup.
• Media timeout: score tied at 24-24, 3:01 to go.
• Cal in the double-bonus for the last 1:16 of the first half.
• Halftime score: ASU 27, Cal 27.

Chatted with former Stanford star Kate Starbird this week about how she’s changing the world and helping earthquake victims in Haiti. Always a pleasure to catch up with Bird.

http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2010/01/29/starbirds-research-helping-in-haiti/

University of Colorado photo

Down by 14 points 14 minutes into the first half and looking terrible, Stanford turned it around Thursday night at Maples Pavilion and finished with a 71-48 win over Arizona State.

The second-ranked Cardinal will wear their Cardinal (in support of Haiti earthquake victims) and will take on the Arizona Wildcats today to close the first half of the Pac-10 schedule.

What will likely stick in the minds of the Stanford players is what happened early on in Thursday night’s win over the Sun Devils.

Arizona State’s aggressive man-to-man defense forced turnovers, limited shots and had the Cardinal struggling quickly. With 6:13 to go in the first half, Stanford was down 27-13 and down 29-25 at the half. It was the Cardinal’s first halftime deficit of the season.

“We started as poorly as we have started any game I can honestly remember ever coaching,” VanDerveer said. “We were just not understanding what Arizona State was going to do…We were totally discombobulated.”

The Cardinal were getting out-rebounded, leading scorer Nneka Ogwumike was in foul trouble. But Stanford stayed poise, got a few stops, patiently worked the ball inside and took back control of the boards to seize control of the game.

Kayla Pedersen scored 23 points for Stanford, Jayne Appel added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Rosalyn Gold-Onwude continues her scoring surge, establishing a new career high with 19 points. Gold-Onwude has scored in double figures in five of the last six games, and established new career scoring highs twice in that span.

“Confidence, that’s it,” Gold-Onwude said of her offensive awakening.

But it’s Gold-Onwude’s defense that is most impressing Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer.

“I think Ros is one of the best defenders, not only in the Pac-10, but in the country,” VanDerveer said.

Gold-Onwude drew the defensive assignment on Sun Devils leading scorer Danielle Orsillo, was 1 for 8 from the field with Gold-Onwude on the other side of the ball. Tenaya Watson’s 12 first-half points made her the only ASU player in double figures.

Arizona State moves on to take on Cal Saturday after a disappointing night in which all the good things the Sun Devils did on defense for the first 15 minutes melted away because they could not score. ASU had just five field-goals in the second half.

Stanford faced down its first halftime deficit of the season, but was already in the midst of what would be a 35-3 run that turned the tide of the game.

“Ah, if the games were only 20 minutes,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “Obviously, we’re very young this year. I was really proud of us in the first half. We didn’t shoot it that well, but we executed our game plan. We controlled the boards. We needed to do that in the second half and we didn’t control the boards.”

Turner Thorne said she thought her team got good looks at the basket.

“Really, the right kids shot it for us,” Turner Thorne said. “We got rattled. Our poise is still not where we want it to be. Obviously, Stanford responded the way you’d expect them to in the second half.”

DeNesha Stallworth admits, she had never really been yelled at much in her previous years playing basketball.

“If I did something wrong, coach would just say, ‘DeNesha’ and that was it,” Stallworth said. “But there’s no favoritism in college. So I’ve had to become stronger. Instead of going into a shell, I have to respond back to the yelling. I’ve learned to don’t take it to heart, but take it to mind.”

Cal's DeNesha Stallworth - Michael Pimentel, GoldenBearSports.com

It might not be the yelling, but something is working for Stallworth and the Cal Bears. After Thursday night’s 73-56 win over Arizona, Cal has won five in a row to erase the sting of an 0-3 conference start. The Bears (11-8 overall) are now alone in fourth place in the Pac-10.

Senior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson is in the midst of an extraordinary offensive bust-out. Following up her school record 47 points in a double-overtime win over Oregon State last Saturday night, Gray-Lawson finished with 39 against the Wildcats. She is averaging 30.6 points per game over the Bears’ five-game winning streak.

“We’ve got some momentum,” said Cal coach Joanne Boyle, whose team will match up against Arizona State at Haas Pavilion Saturday at 2:30. “It’s funny, the more you watch your team, you understand it comes down to matchups.”

And a little confidence.

Stallworth admitted the team’s win streak has done a lot for the team’s five freshmen, who were taking the team’s struggles personally.

“I think sometimes we question ourselves,” Stallworth said. “Are we the reason why we are losing? But winning is building our confidence and it’s really helping.”

Gray-Lawson is driving the Cal offense at the moment. But Stallworth has done her part. The first-year standout from Pinole Valley is the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.0 points per game and it’s second-leading rebounder at 6.3 rebounds per game.

Boyle said Gray-Lawson’s big performances are something to build an offense on. But the coach knows she will need more from other people at some point.

“It’s great to get 47 points, but we can’t rely on that,” Boyle said. “We can’t let it be the Lexi show for the rest of the year.”

The coach believes the roles of her young players have solidified. Stallworth is improving defensively. Guard Laysia Clarendon is learning to find consistency, while Eliza Pierra has become the team’s defensive stopper in the backcourt.

“They’ve got some confidence going and that always helps,” Boyle said.

Boyle said Stallworth has not only grown defensively, but in her willingness to extend her game.

“She understands the pace and tone of the game, but for a while she didn’t want to step outside of the box,” Boyle said. “It was like, ‘Don’t push me, don’t ask too much, don’t give me a bigger role’. But I’ve been impressed with her basketball IQ and her growth.”

Stallworth said she and her young teammates are understanding that a tough early start doesn’t have to dictate how they finish.

“We kept giving teams wins when the wins were right there,” Stallworth said. “We are learning that lesson. If we keep playing like we are playing, we will be fine.”

Halftime notes: Latest information, Mel Murphy out with a back injury this time. Her Twitter acct said today, “Hurt again as always.”…

This is Stanford’s first halftime deficit of the season, 29-25. Barely missed being lowest-scoring half by one point…Cardinal closed the half with a 12-2 run.

• Gametime:
• Stanford celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Saturday against Arizona with $4.
• The Cardinal have asked fans to wear red on Saturday in support of earthquake victims in Haiti.
• Kayla Pedersen struggling offensively for second straight game. 1 for 4 in the first half from the field. But she’s going to the line again. Makes them both. She’s 5 of 6.
• Ogwumike picks up third foul at 19:35. To the bench. Stanford within 29-27.
• Cardinal can’t get even yet, despite three tunovers by ASU thus far.
• Ros Gold-Onwude ties the game with a 3-pointer at 17:36, 30-30.
• Kali Bennett picks up fourth foul with 17:12 to go.
• Cardinal get the lead back on a good pass inside from JJ Hones to Kayla Pedersen under the basket. Cardinal up 32-30 and ASU calls timeout.
• ASU has lost its offensive flow as Stanford tightens up defensively. Sun Devils’ leading scorer, Danielle Orsillo, is scoreless and 0 for 6 from the floor.
• Sun Devils are 0-for-3 from the floor in the second half at the 15:10 mark.
• Stanford has outscored ASU 23-3 since going down 27-13 in the first half.
• Stanford up 40-32 with 13:40 to go. ASU can’t get ay good shots.
• Gold-Onwude hits an open 3-pointer and its 43-32 Stanford lead. The Sun Devils are still without a field-goal in the half.
• Sun Devils coach Charli Turner Thorne picks up a technical foul at 12:45 for complaining to the refs. She was looking for a timeout and when the officials missed it, she showed her frustration.
• Since the Cardinal were down 27-13, Stanford has outscored ASU 35-5 and allowed just one field-goal during that stretch.
• Media timeout at 11:54, 48-32 Stanford leads.
• After missing first five field-goal attempts of the first half, ASU finally scores from the field on a jumper by Alex Earl at 11:40.
• Pedersen suddenly has 17 points for the Cardinal.
• It’s 54-34 Stanford with 6:53 to go. This has to be dispiriting for the Sun Devils, who started so well. But it went bad far and fast. Turner Thorne has said this is going to be a up and down year offensively and this is a prime example.
• Ros Gold-Onwude is giving the Cardinal poise, great defense and some offensive punch. She just scored on consecutive possessions and now has 17 points. Gold-Onwude has scored in double digits in five of the last six games.
• She just scored again to establish a new career high with 19 points.
• Nneka picks up her fourth foul. She’s got eight points and seven rebounds, her quietest game in a long time. She could finish with only her second single-digit scoring game of the season.
• Subs are coming in for the Cardinal, who turned a 14-point deficit in to a blowout in impressive fashion.
• ASU has three second-half field-goals with 2:43 to go. Sun Devils are 3 of 19 from the field.
• Final score: Stanford 71, Arizona State 48.

Lather, rinse and refresh…You know the drill.

Pregame notes: Not dressed for the Cardinal, guard Mel Murphy, who played just three minutes on the Oregon trip. Knee swelling has limited Murphy’s time on the floor and Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer indicated last week that Murphy’s playing time would be sparse the rest of the season…

This may be the first time Stanford has ever played four straight Pac-10 games at home. Checking the media guide for later confirmation…The Cardinal have won seven in a row in this series and 11 of 13.

Starting lineups

Arizona State

13 Danielle Orsillo G

21 Kayli Murphy F/C

25 Kimberly Brandon G/F

32 Becca Tobin F

35 Tanaya Watson G

Stanford

2 Jayne Appel C

14 Kayla Pedersen F

21 Rosalyn Gold-Onwude G

23 Jeanette Pohlen G

30 Nneka Ogwumike F

• Gametime: Arizona State senior guard Danielle Orsillo continues to play with a taped-up left shoulder, the result of a December injury..
• Scoring tough to come by early. Stanford up 4-2 with 17:15 to go.
• Media timeout at 15:14. Game tied at 6-6.
• Three turnovers so far for Stanford and two of them turn into ASU layups.
• ASU playing good defense. Media timeout at 11:55, ASU up 10-8. Stanford’s low scoring total for the half this season is 24 points — against Utah and against Fresno State.
• ASU goes on a 7-0 run and is up 17-8 with 9:51 to go and the Cardinal offense looks awful.
• If the Oregon game was supposed so snap the Cardinal out of its funk, well…maybe not yet.
• Hones hit a a 3-pointer to make it 17-11 and get the crowd back in.
• Stanford has had two scoring droughts of at least 3 minutes already.
• Tenaya Watson hits another 3 pointer and it’s 22-11.
• Nneka Ogwumike picks up her second fould and will likely go to the bench. That hurts.
• ASU is ruling every category so far, shooting, 3-point shooting and owns a 14-9 rebounding advantage. Stanford has six turnovers, ASU one.
• The Sun Devils look like they’ve put it back together after their rough conference start.
• Watson has 12 points for ASU.
• Deja Mann hits a 3 pointer and its 27-13 ASU at 6:30. Cardinal are facing largest deficit of the Pac-10 schedule.
• ASU pressing Stanford in the frontcourt on the in-bounds a lot like Oregon did Saturday.
• The Cardinal grabs back a little momentum with four straight points and Kayla Pedersen going to the line. Stanford still getting rebounded 18-9.
• Cardinal on a 6-0 run, but it’s a slog. One free-throw at a time. Make it an 8-0 run. ASU up 27-21.
• ASU scoreless since 6:13. Stanford now within 27-23.
• Becca Tobin breaks ASU’s scorless streak with inside at 36.0.
• Halftime score: ASU 29, Stanford 25.

St. Mary’s coach Paul Thomas checked the West Coast Conference media guide recently to see when the last time the Gaels opened the conference with a 6-1 record.

He was looking a while.

St. Mary's Louella Tomlinson - Photo by Tod Fierner

Thomas’ team, the Gaels program, is as good as its been in a while. St. Mary’s is one-game behind Gonzaga in the WCC standings, the Gaels are 10-4 since Dec. 1 and 13-7 overall.

“We are playing well, but I still do no believe that we have played our best basketball,” Thomas said. “We are truly finding a good rhythm for this team.”

The Gaels have found balanced scoring, with four players averaging double-figures, led by junior Louella Tomlinson and fifth-year senior guard Jontelle Smith, who has collected 48 3-pointers thus far.

Tomlinson, the junior from Australia, is having a stellar junior season. She is the WCC’s leading scorer at 17.2 points per game, is tied for the lead in rebounding average (9.9 per game), is second in field-goal percentage (.594) and is the national leader in blocked shots with 136, an averaged of 6.8 per game. She has posted three triple-doubles this season, also the NCAA’s best.

Tomlinson is on her way to the NCAA career record for blocked shots. The record is 480. She needs 31 more to break the record.

Tomlinson said she feels less pressure this season.

“I don’t feel as stressed. Last year I knew if I didn’t get a certain amount of rebounds or points that we weren’t going to win,” Tomlinson said. “Last year there were maybe five games where I took over 20 shots and obviously that hurt me a lot and our team a lot. This year, I haven’t done that and I haven’t had to.”

That Tomlinson owns the NCAA block lead this season might come as a shock to some people nationally, where Baylor’s Brittney Griner has received so much attention.

“It’s not about blocking shots for me,” Tomlinson said. “Obviously she’s a great player and a bright future and she will probably smash any record that I break, but I would rather win the game than get 10 blocks.

“I want our team to do well. I want us to take a conference championship more than anything before I leave. I have other things to worry about.”

Thomas said he believes that Tomlinson still has “another level.”

“I think for us to reach that level, she is one of those people who will have to raise her game,” Thomas said. “San Diego did a great job of double-teaming her. She needs to improve passing out of the double and do a better job of handling it because more teams are going to do it.

But Thomas said his team chemistry is as good as its been since he arrived four years ago.

“I give the kids total credit here,” Thomas said. “When we move the ball, they really don’t care who gets the shots, they are not looking for their own shot. On Sept. 1, I was concerned about that. On almost Feb. 1, I think we are a truly unselfish team.”

The Gaels have already been beaten this season by Gonzaga, losing 87-52 in Spokane on Jan. 14.

The two teams will meet again on Feb. 11 I Moraga.

“It’s a maturity factor,” Thomas said. “That staff has been in place 10 years. I think that’s the difference between them and us right now. I think our team has taken a step in the right direction.”