BYU women's basketball: Cougars need quick start against Arizona St.

The BYU Cougars are still playing postseason basketball.

After defeating Pepperdine in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament, the Cougars are headed to Tempe, Ariz., to take on Arizona State Tuesday at 6:30 at the Wells Fargo Arena.

Once again, BYU women's basketball coach Jeff Judkins sees a strong resemblance between his team and his opponents, who are yet again quick and love to get into a transition ball game.

"They're very similar to us. Their bigs score inside and shoot outside. Their shooting guard is their leading scorer, and they have a really quick point guard. I think we match up well with them," said Judkins, who noted that his team might be a little quicker but also noted that since the Sun Devils play in the Pac-10, they're probably used to that.

The Cougars shoot and score more treys than the Sun Devils, and Arizona State is quite a young squad.

"When we come out early on the road and score baskets, we seem to do well. I think that's a big key for us," said Judkins, who is planning to stress the need for an early start to his team in pregame meetings.

Arizona State comes into the meeting with the Cougars with an 18-13 overall record. BYU enters the game with a 21-9 record. The Sun Devils are 11-4 at home this season behind the scoring of senior guard Danielle Orsilla, who scores 14.2 points per game. The Cougars count on a balanced effort across the board.

BYU leads the overall series 5-3 but hasn't played the Sun Devils in 19 years, when it lost to them in December 1981.

This year the Cougars are 0-1 against Pac-10 opponents, losing in Washington 67-66 last November.

The winner will take on the winner of the Texas Tech-Wyoming game in the third round.

WNIT second round

BYU at Arizona State

Today, 6:30 p.m.

Radio: none

e-mail: jolsen@desnews.com