The women’s basketball team owes the Arizona State Sun Devils. It was No. 12 ASU that came from behind to steal a win over the Dawgs Jan. 7. The loss sent the Huskies into a downward spiral that still has the team sinking.

“It was one of the best games that we’ve played all year,” said forward Breanne Watson. “We proved that we could play with anyone.”

Since the slip up in the desert, Washington (13-9 overall, 6-5 Pac-10) has lost four of five Pac-10 games and has fallen from first place in the conference down to a tie with UCLA for fifth.

“It’s hard to describe what would have happened if we had won,” Watson said. “Things would be different. We hit a rough patch, but this game will show that we can redeem ourselves.”

It was Dymond Simon who sank a free throw to put ASU (19-3 overall, 0-2 Pac-10) up for good with under a minute left in the teams’ first meeting. The freshman point guard finished 6-of-8 from the floor for 16 points in that contest, but she won’t be around to pester the UW frontcourt today. One of the leading candidates for freshmen-of-the-year, Simon’s out for the rest of the season after an ACL injury she suffered Jan. 21.

“I think they change a little,” Watson said of the Sun Devils without Simon. “You never want to wish injury on anyone. They’re still deep and they have a tough bench and they’ll still be a tough team to play against.”

Before the final minute of the Jan. 7 game, the UW had won nine straight games. They led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but they haven’t played the same since. The Sun Devils put up 48 second-half points to the Dawgs’ 39.

“I think that right now there is a sense of urgency with the team,” Watson said. “Our tournament hopes are slowly slipping away with each loss. The rest of the Pac-10 season is huge for us.”

After the deflating loss to ASU, the Huskies have been outscored in seven of the 10 halves they’ve played in. They played the way they started the season in only the two halves of the WSU game and the second half of their last loss at USC, when they already trailed by 22 points.

“If your shots aren’t falling, you’ve got to get stops,” Watson said. “If you don’t get stops, it goes down from there. It’s hard to pin it on one thing, but it’s tough when you start out the game down.”

Despite the scoring dip, the Dawgs still have the No. 2 scoring offense in the conference, behind only ASU.

Washington gets its chance at redemption at an opportune time. The Sun Devils are coming off a disappointing loss of their own, falling at home in overtime to Pac-10 leader and the nation’s No. 8 team Stanford on Jan. 27. The loss broke up an ASU conference home win streak of 22 games.

“It’s a big game for us,” Watson said. “We’ve had a rough spot, and it was so close when we were down there in Tempe. We have to shoot a good percentage, get back to our defensive identity and we have to go out there and give it our all for 40 minutes.”

Reach reporter Sam Cameron at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.