Tucson, Ariz. – Despite a team-high 17 points from junior Malena Washington, Arizona fell to No. 8 Arizona State 62-47 Sunday evening in front of 1,483 fans at McKale Center.

Washington continued her strong season, hitting seven of 15 shots and dishing out four assists to go with her 17 points in 32 minutes, but the Sun Devils shot 46 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Wildcats 37-19 in the win.

“Obviously that didn't go the way we wanted it to, but we got to give credit to Arizona State,” coach Niya Butts said after the game. “They came in here ready to play, and they gave it to us early. Even though we had a decent second half effort, it's just too difficult to recover. Way too many turnovers in the first half. They absolutely pounded us on the boards.”

The Sun Devils took a 34-14 lead into the locker room at halftime. Arizona State shot 50 percent from the floor (13-26) and outrebounded Arizona 17-10, while forcing 12 turnovers.

Arnecia Hawkins led ASU with 15 points in 12 minutes. She was a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor and 4 of 4 from the free throw line. Katie Hempen added eight for the Sun Devils in the first.

The Wildcats (11-9, 2-6 Pac-12) shot 33 percent in the opening half. Breanna Workman led the Wildcats with four points. LaBrittney Jones had two points and five rebounds to lead all players in the first half. She played 17 minutes.

In the second half, Arizona committed just two turnovers after 12 in the first half and shot 50 percent from the floor (12-24). After having just two points in the first half, Washington turned her game on and hitting six of 11 shots in the second half, including a fourth quarter 3-pointer.

“I thought Malena took some shots for us and she had to make some shots for us,” Butts said. “She played a lot of minutes, the problem was we just didn't have anyone step up at point guard. She was having to handle the ball a lot, so she was getting fatigued. We have to work on that again this week.”

Arizona State (17-3, 8-0) scored 11 points off turnovers in the first half, but none in the second half. Arizona outscored Arizona State in points off turnovers in the second half 14-0. The Wildcats outscored the Sun Devils by five in the second half overall.

"We had to calm down,” Washington said. “I told my team at halftime that we need to calm down, it is nothing we haven't seen before."

LaBrittney Jones added 10 points, six rebounds and two steals in 31 minutes. Breanna Workman added six points and Keyahndra Cannon had five. Hawkins had 19 to lead the Sun Devils. Hempen finished with 14.

Overall for the game, Arizona shot 42 percent, hitting 19 of 45 shots.

“We didn't do what we had to do; they were getting absolutely anything they wanted,” Butts said of the first half. “We didn't get anything from our bench, we didn't get anything from our first five. We talked about coming out the second half and making it a game. It was a new half, and we had 20 more minutes to do that, to get out there and be solid; offensively, defensively.”

Arizona will return to action Friday at No. 11 Oregon State. Game time is set for 7 p.m., MST and will be televised on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Arizona.