Tough loss for the Bears. Big win for the Sun Devils.

http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2010/02/28/cal-asu-both-living-on-the-bubble/

• Trying something new ..10 Questions With…Jayne Appel goes first. http://bit.ly/aiDfXu #
• St. John's riding its youth movement to a big season. On Fanhouse. Read it: http://bit.ly/aHdq7q. #
• Big weekend coming up in the Pac-10. Lots at stake for Cal. http://bit.ly/cemTAe #
• This week's Best of the West power rankings. This one was hard. Best is in the eye of the beholder. Welcome the Big… http://bit.ly/bcR4m3 #
• Monday's Fanhouse missive…Anyone want to play in the NCAA tourney? http://bit.ly/a38xte #

Stats of note:

Cal 12 turnovers, ASU 7

ASU leading in rebounding 17-14 and 7-3 on the offensive end.

Cal’s shoot 8 of 20 for 40 percent

ASU 11 of 26 for 42.3 percent.

ASU has scored nine off turnovers and nine off second-chance points.

Game time:

• ASU comes out and pads the lead. Becca Tobin inside to make it 31-22.
• Cal rallying with a 9-2 run. Alexis Gray-Lawson completes 3-point play to get Bears within 33-31 with 16:19 to go.
• Media timeout: ASU 34, Cal 31 with 15:31 to go.
• Eliza Pierre drives and scores and Cal at 34-33. Arizona State not getting very good shots right now as Cal ups the defensive intensity.
• Gray-Lawson scores on a follow, going up and under to give the Bears their first lead of the half 35-34. Then Pierre gets a steal at the other end and feeds to DeNesha Stallworth and the Bears lead 37-34.
• ASU calls timeout. Cal outscoring ASU 15-5 since the half.
• Sun Devils last field-goal at 16:28. Cal now up 39-34 after Caldwell scores inside.
• Cal on a 17-3 run now since the Sun Devils opened the half with a basket.
• Cal up 39-34 with 11:38 to go at media timeout.
• ASU scores first FG in 6:20 when Kali Bennett scores inside at 10:16.
• Orsillo has two points in the second half for ASU.
• McKinney hits a jumper and it’s 43-40 with 7:31 to go.
• Cal scores on back-to-back possessions and it’s 47-40.
• Pierre having a very good game for the Bears with nine points, six rebounds and four assists thus far.
• ASU matches the back-to-back and it’s a three-point game. Then Gray-Lawson finally connects from three and it’s 50-44 Cal.
• Mann makes her first basket of the game and it’s good timing, a 3-pointer that gets the Bears within 50-47 with 3:35 to go.
• Media timeout with 3:09 to go. Cal 50, ASU 47.
• Cal getting out-rebounded 36-29.
• Orsillo drives for 50-49 with 249 to go.
• ASU calls timeout. Cal 50, ASU 49 with 2:06 remaining.
• ASU back in the lead on Kayli Murphy folo. 51-50.
• Cal misses two shots at their end, ASU gets the rebound and Devils call timeout again with 49.6 to go and the one-point lead.
• ASU making it difficult for Cal to get a good look.
• Cal has gotten beat today on some key rebounding opportunities.
• Orsillo going to take it away from the Bears again. She drives the right wing, goes around three Cal defenders and shoots a 12-footer from the baseline to give ASU a 53-50 lead.
• Cal comes down to the other end and turns the ball over, Vital throwing a pass wide intended for Stallworth in the post.
• Bears forced to foul. Murphy to the line with 22.4 to go. Makes the front end of the 1 and 1. And the second.
• ASU up 55-50.
• Vital makes a run, throws it away again down low.
• Now Tobin to the line. 14.7 to go. Makes the first. Makes the second.
• Final score ASU 57, Cal 50.

Pregame notes: This is senior day at ASU and the Sun Devils will be honoring their three seniors — Danielle Orsillo, Kayli Murphy and Gabby Fage —  in a postgame ceremony….

Last these two teams met, you’ll remember, the Bears gave up a 10-point lead in the final four minutes and Danielle Orsillo hit a baseline jumper with .5 seconds on the clock to lead ASU to a 63-61 victory.

That win for ASU snapped a four-game Cal winning streak in this series. ASU leads the series overall by a 28-27 margin….

This game is the second matchup between the Brandon sisters. Gennifer, a freshman, plays at Cal. Kimberly, a sophomore plays for ASU…

Starting lineups:

Cal

11 De’Nesha Stallworth F

4 Eliza Pierre G

21 Alexis Gray-Lawson G

33 Talia Caldwell C

23 Laysia Clarendon G

Arizona State

2 Sabrina McKinney G

13 Danielle Orsillo G

21 Kayli Murphy F

25 Kimberly Brandon F

32 Becca Tobin C

Gametime:

• True to form when these two teams play, a slow offensive start. It’s 2-2 at 17:45.
• ASU yet to score from the floor. Cal leads 6-3 at 16:31.
• Kimberly Brandon scores on a baseline jumper for ASU at 15:58 for first field-goal.
• Media timeout: Cal 6, Arizona State 5.
• All the Pac-10 schools tipped at 2 p.m. today. Keeping my eye on the scoreboard.
• Sabrina McKinney gives ASU first lead at 15:09 with drive in the paint.
• Cal’s DeNesha Stallworth picks up her second foul at 13:26.
• ASU’s Tenaya Watson picks up second foul at 12:53 and Cal is in the bonus.
• Cal pressing full-court now.
• Media timeout: Cal 10, ASU 8, 11:24 to go.
• There’s a distinct lack of energy on the floor from both teams. A little strange considering the magnitude of the game.
• Alex Earl hits the first 3-pointer of the game and it’s 14-13, Cal leading.
• Lots of whistles. 13 fouls between the two teams so far. Not surprising.
• Sun Devils grab the lead again on inside basket by Joy Fulcher. It’s getting scrum-like out there, just the way the Sun Devils like to play. Cal has six turnovers. Orsillo hits jumper and is fouled by Natasha Vital.
• ASU up 17-14 with 7:36 to go and Orsillo going to the line.
• The fouls keep on coming. Clarendon has two now.
• Largest lead for either team now, ASU up 21-16. Have outscored Cal 11-2 over the last five minutes.
• And more where that came from. Gennifer Brandon with two fouls and this one hurt because she fouled under the basket while Gray-Lawson was draining a 3. It was waved off.
• Arizona State offense warming up while Gray-Lawson struggles to get good looks for Cal. She’s 3 of 9 so far.
• ASU timeout with 1:38 to go, ASU up 27-22.
• Cal down 29-22 now after Tobin scores on a follow. Turnovers and rebounding hurting Cal right now.
• Bears couldn’t get a shot off before half.
• Halftime score ASU 29, Cal 22.

A new feature as the season plows toward the postseason. 10 Questions with…A question-and-answer sessions with players, coaches, broadcasters…whomever I can round up.

Jayne Appel goes first.

Q:  What have you learned about being a senior after watching teammates like Brooke and Candice and Jill?

A:   They always talk about the different feeling and the urgency that you feel. You think you understand until you are actually a senior. Jill (Harmon) would say “I can’t believe this is my last time in Arizona.” And I would say, “I can see what you mean by that.” And you think you do. But it’s the little important things like team meals and bus rides and then you really realize that this is the last time for you, and that sense of urgency you don’t really realize until you actually are a senior.

Q: How does that impact your approach to the season?

A: You don’t ever want to slack off or, I don’t want to say, hold back. But you want to put everything you can into it. It goes from little things…like last year, I would have left my cell phone on at night, but now it’s like “I need the sleep, I’m turning it off”, to things like being sore after a game and hoping that practice will be a little easier the next day. Now it’s, “OK, what are we doing to get ready for tomorrow?” I think it difference is in mentality.

Q. How are you feeling physically?

A: Better. It’s gotten better throughout the season. Strengthening (the knee)  is one thing. To be honest, when I got that foot infection, it kind was one of the biggest blessings I had in a weird way. I couldn’t do anything. It hurt to bike, it hurt to do anything. It literally did nothing for three days, which is a very rare thing to happen. That was one of the best things that could have happened, I completed rested it and didn’t do anything and I think that was a big thing.

Q: How much trouble was it giving you?

A: Power. I think there are still some issues of going off of one leg and having that comfort of coming down on something funny.  I have to stop and think ‘OK, is it stable? OK, now I can go on’. It’s not just second nature to play with it, just getting used to it. At the beginning of the season, I would fall and land funny and it would take me a split-second longer to realize it. It was just kind of ‘Nothing’s happened. It’s going to be fine.” Just kind of playing through it. I get sore every once in a while, but there’s no pain. Just feels like an old lady knee, I would assume. But it’s never pain, which is good.

Q. How as it impacting your game earlier in the season? More than now?

A: Absolutely. Obviously, I’m not going to put it all on my knee. I also think I wasn’t able to play basketball over the summer and that really hurt me in the sense that I came into the season and the first time I touched the ball was practice. Besides just shooting, but just playing and using the knee in that way and doing post moves off of it one way or the other. Playing into that was the most important part, not the pain part of it.

Q: How are you playing differently than you were six weeks ago?

A: Even though I wasn’t necessarily playing well six weeks ago, I’ve tried to keep the same mental state through it. I’ve tried to be a leader no matter how I’m playing and that’s the most important thing. The difference is confidence, not only about me, but how I’m playing. I’m trying to keep the team rolling where we are going.

Q. You are close to breaking Lisa Leslie’s Pac-10 rebounding record. What does that mean to you?

A: It’s definitely really cool, especially because of who holds it. This is one of the last records that she holds in the Pac-10. And to know that when I was growing up, in my room I still have a picture of Lisa Leslie, I think that’s something that I take personally more because she is someone who has been a role model for me and I watched play. It adds a little more significance to it for me.

Q: What is your mindset as you get close to postseason play?

A: Stay healthy. That is going to be the No. 1 thing for us, that we have everyone that we need from player one to player 15, including Sarah Boothe. If we stay healthy and we stayed focused, those are the two most important things, that it will be very difficult to stop us.

Q. In what ways do you need to be a better team?

A:  We’re huge and to be out-rebounded, to me there’s no excuse. Not only do we have a size advantage at at least three positions, but it’s just a battle of wanting to do it correctly, wanting to box out the right way, wanting to turn the right direction. I think we’ve had really good defense, as of late, starting with Ros and moving down the line. It’s what won the game for us last night (against Arizona State). But rebounding’s No. 1 and No. 2 would be handling pressure. Every team from here on out is going to pressure us.

Q. Do you feel like you guys are under the radar with all the attention that Connecticut is getting?

A: I don’t mind, to be honest. It kind of reminds me of our sophomore year. We kind of flew under that radar that year a little bit. We’ve only lost one game and that was to the No. 1 team. Yes, we do keep that in the back of our minds. It’s about coming out each game and playing hard. We haven’t been on TV that much this year, so I think it honestly benefits us. Other teams have to be curious, they haven’t really seen us play that long. Where we have seen Connecticut play Texas and Notre Dame. The only school we haven’t seen play is Nebraska.

Tempe, Arizona -  Through the years, Charli Turner Thorne has often been defiant in defeat.

No excuses, no hand-wringing. The responsibility for everything that determines a win and a loss is on her team.

It is the attitude that has driven the Arizona State program to the Elite Eight twice in the last four years.

But defiance is not the appropriate call for the Sun Devils this season. Thursday night after the 62-43 loss to second-ranked Stanford at Wells Fargo Arena, Turner Thorne sounded conciliatory. She sighed throughout her postgame comments, not out of resignation, but recognition about how young, how inexperienced, how different this team is than ones she’s had in recent seasons.

“This is a tough season for us. We haven’t been in this position for a long, long time,” Turner Thorne said of her team, now 16-10 and 8-7 with three losses in the last five games. “We’re just trying to keep it in perspective. It is what it is. We had guards get hurt. We have four guards that are supposed to be on our roster that aren’t from the end of last season to know and we’ve got a lot of young players getting great experience learning a lot and getting better.“

ASU never led against the Cardinal – they had a 14-point lead on Stanford at Stanford earlier this season – and never got closer than five points after the Cardinal opened the game with a 10-0 run.

Stanford clinched its 10^th straight Pac-10 title with the victory.

Turner Thorne is just trying to get her team through the next few games and keep them in a position to play more.

With three games left in the Pac-10 season and the conference tournament still to go, the Sun Devils are a longshot for the NCAA Tournament.

Beating the powerhouse Cardinal probably wasn’t in the cards. And not when you are not hitting shots, shooting 30.2 percent from the field.

“For the most part, our lack of experience is still biting us in the butt in big games,” Turner Thorne said. “You don’t have a Dymond Simon to put the ball in her hands and just say ‘OK, go to work’.
“We did some things well, but just not enough.”

This has been a roller-coaster season for the Sun Devils. After a surprising 0-3 start in Pac-10 play, ASU rallied back to win six of seven. But a stunning home loss to then-winless Washington State has sent ASU to three losses in its last five games with some of the toughest teams in the Pac-10 still on the schedule.

The Sun Devils are most decidedly on the NCAA bubble. But an NCAA berth – one which would allow them to play at home in the first two rounds – still looks like a longshot. ASU has a tough close to the Pac-10 schedule, including Saturday’s big, big, big game with Cal, followed by a regular-season end road trip to the Los Angeles schools.

All four of those teams – Cal, ASU, USC and UCLA – and fighting to solidify their NCAA chances.

For ASU, it could be their first year out of the NCAA field since 2004.

Turner Thorne she’s not talking much about the tournament with her team, at least not in terms of how many games they need win.

“This team is so young,” Turner Thorne said. “We’re not really talking about it. As far as they know we need to win every game. But I’m trying to get this team to learn how to play in the moment.”

Halftime score: Stanford 29-20.

Reminder: All four of Stanford’s post players — Jayne Appel. Nneka Ogwumike, Kayla Pedersen and Joslyn Tinkle have two fouls each.

Ogwumike played just four minutes in the first half.

Starting lineups remain the same for the second half.

• Pedersen opens the scoring immediate for Stanford with a 3-pointer at the top of the arc.
• Ogwumike struggling offensively. Two close-in baskets roll off the rim. She scores finally on a follow of a Pedersen miss.
• Appel with two rounds. Looks like it’s not happening tonight for Appel.
• Appel connects on a jumper to put Stanford up 36-24 and ASU calls timeout with 16:05 to go.
• Props to ASU band for playing Fall Out Boy. Love it.
• Orsillo finally hits first basket at 15:51. And then hits another at 15:26.
• Media timeout: Stanford 38, Stanford 28. Orsillo going to the line to cut it to single-digits. The senior is now 2 of 8 from the floor.
• Appel’s right hand is taped. WIll check on that postgame.
• Stanford making it really hard on ASU to get good shots. Media timeout: Cardinal leads 43-32.
• Scoreboard isn’t moving much. with 7:54 to go it’s 45-36.
• It’s 47-37 with 6:17 to go and somebody just asked if it was supposed to be this close. I’m not convinced it is at this point. Doesn’t feel that close.
• Ogwumike taking a break with four points and five rebounds.
• Appel all of a sudden has eight rebounds. Still, it looks like she’ll break Lisa Leslie’s Pac-10 rebounding record in Tucson against the Wildcats, who are down 50-49 to Cal with 4:37 to go.
• Appel over the top is Stanford’s best offensive option right now. It’s working. She has 15 points.
• Cal wins 58-52, setting up Saturday’s game here in Tempe as a very big game for the Bears, whose NCAA hopes may be dependent on a victory.
• JJ Hones hit a 3 and we are done here. 58-41 with 2:44 to go.
• Appel out at the two-minute mark with 18 points and nine rebounds.
• This was not a good-looking game, but ASU makes you play ugly.
• Stanford clinches its 10th straight Pac-10 title. Breaking news? Not really.

The list of finalists for the Naismith Award was narrowed and announced Thursday. And not unlike the Academy Award nominations, sometimes it’s just as interesting to talk about who got snubbed.

Conspicuous by her absence in this case is Stanford sophomore forward Nneka Ogmumike, the Pac-10′s leading scorer.

• Jayne Appel (Stanford)
• Ashley Barlow (Notre Dame)
• Tina Charles (Connecticut)
• Alysha Clark (Middle Tenn. State)
• Elena Delle Donne (Delaware)
• Dawn Evans (James Madison)
• Tyra Grant (Penn State)
• Alexis Gray-Lawson (California)
• Kelsey Griffin (Nebraska)
• Brittney Griner (Baylor)
• Amber Harris (Xavier)
• Allison Hightower (LSU)
• Ashley Houts (Georgia)
• Shenise Johnson (Miami)
• Jantel Lavender (Ohio State)
• Gabriela Marginean (Drexel)
• Danielle McCray (Kansas)
• Maya Moore (Connecticut)
• Kayla Pedersen (Stanford)
• Ta’Shia Phillips (Xavier)
• Samantha Prahalis (Ohio State)
• Andrea Riley (Oklahoma State)
• Danielle Robinson (Oklahoma)
• Jenna Smith (Illinois)
• Da’Shena Stevens (St. John’s)
• Shekinna Stricklen (Tennessee)
• Bianca Thomas (Ole Miss)
• Jasmine Thomas (Duke)
• Courtney Vandersloot (Gonzaga)
• Monica Wright (Virginia)

Tempe, Arizona – Since I don’t see that many red shirts here tonight at Wells Fargo Arena, I’m going to assume you all opted to stay home and read my live blog while watching figure skating!

Oh yeah, and Refresh.

Pregame notes: Arizona State point guard Tenaya Watson, who has missed ASU’s last three games with an ankle, could see action tonight. It’s not clear whether she would be in the starting lineup…

There is no specific ceremony planned if Stanford’s Jayne Appel breaks the Pac-10 rebounding record tonight. She needs 13 boards and we’ll keep track from here. It’s no surprise that the milestone will be treated in more low-key fashion considering this is a road game and a television game, which would make the stoppage of the game an issue.

When Candice Wiggins broke the Pac-10 scoring record two years ago, she did it on the road at Washingnton State. She also did it, interestingly enough, on the day that the Cardinal clinched the Pac-10 title, which is what will happen here if Stanford wins…

Stanford has won eight in a row in this series.

Starting lineups:

Stanford

2 Jayne Appel C

14 Kayla Pedersen F

23 Jeanette Pohlen G

21 Rosalyn Gold-Onwude G

30 Nneka Ogwumike F

Arizona State

21 Kayli Murphy F

32 Becca Tobin F

13 Danielle Orsillo G

11 Kali Bennett F

02 Sabrina McKinney G

Game time:

• I’m just saying…a little odd. The ASU fans stand until either team scores, instead of when the home team scores. So Appel scored the first basket of the game and everybody sat.
• Nneka Ogwumike picks up a quick fould at 17:32 and out she goes.
• Tenaya Watson comes in at 16:55 for the first time in four games.
• Stanford out to a 7-0 lead. ASU is 0-for-4 from the floor.
• ASU calls timeout after Jeanette Pohlen hits a 3-pointer to make it 10-0 wth 15:57 to go. Poor TV watchers. Not pretty.
• Media timeout, Stanford 12, ASU 2. Ogwumike headed back into the game. No rebounds yet for Appel.
• Ogwumike picks up second foul on Pedersen jumper. To the bench again. For the rest of the half, likely.
• JJ Hones coming in for Stanford at 12:20.
• Media timeout after scramble for the ball. Stanford 19, ASU 8.
• Sun Devils are 3 of 13 from the field. Stanford is 8 of 12.
• ASU just struggles on the offensive end, which was Charli Turner Thorne’s biggest concern about this season.
• Tinkle getting major minutes in the first half so far and leads the Cardinal with five rebounds. No sooner I type it and she comes out for RGO.
• Even Orsillo’s ball is rimming out. ASU 4 of 19 from the floor.
• Stanford up 23-11 with 6:05 to go in the half. Story so far, ASU can’t match up inside and can’t make shots outside.
• Kayla Pedersen picks up second foul with 5:37 to go. She joins Nneka Ogwumike on the bench.
• More than 6 minutes between field-goals for ASU.
• Orsillo is 0-for-4 with 3 turnovers so far, a rough start.
• Media timeout with 2:55 to go in the first half. Stanford 25, ASU 14.
• OK, some how I missed Appel picking up her second foul. But she stays in with Pedersen and Ogwumike already on the bench.
• ASU on an 8-2 run and within 25-18 with 1:40 to go in the half. The Sun Devils are starting to awake this home crowd.
• And ASU’s press is on.
• Tinkle just picked up her second with 1:15 to go. And the Cardinal are officially in some foul trouble now.
• 9-2 run for ASU. And then Tinkle scores.
• Gold-Onwude takes a shot to the head. She’s gathering herself on the court. She’s coming out. 5.7 seconds in the half.
• Halftime score: Stanford 29, ASU 20.
• Stats to know: Stanford shooting 50 percent (13 of 26). ASU 7 of 27 (25.9 percent). Stanford getting outrebounded 21-14.

The Women of Troy have put themselves in a bad spot after being in a very good spot.

It wasn’t but a month ago that USC was 8-1 in the Pac-10, in second place behind Stanford and with a strong RPI, looking like NCAA material.

But after five losses in six games – including a home loss to Washington State last week – the Women of Troy have put their backs up against the wall.

“Just a little bit,” said sophomore forward Briana Gilbreath.

Here’s what awaits, a tough road trip this weekend against Oregon and Oregon State and USC will be looking to avenge a loss to Oregon in Los Angeles last month.

And then the regular-season closing set at home against the Arizona schools.

The run of losses dropped USC to 14-11 and 8-6 in the Pac-10. While the Women of Troy still have a strong RPI (No. 37 this week according to the NCAA rankings) thanks to a strong non-conference, USC has fewer wins overall than UCLA, Cal, Arizona State and Oregon.

The time to get the season back on track is now.

“The last few weeks have really tested the character of our team,” Gilbreath said. “We’ve dropped games and it has hurt us, but we’ve learned. I think we are better for it.”

Gilbreath said she doesn’t see a common denominator in the losses.

“It’s a mix of a lot of things,” Gilbreath said. “One game we don’t rebound and then we are focused so much on rebounding that we don’t play the best defense. Another game it’s been turnovers.”

Gilbreath said she remains confident about her team’s NCAA prospects.

“We just need to win these games and go into the Pac-10 tournament and see where we fit in,” Gilbreath said.