Arizona State women’s basketball put together its best performance of Pac-12 play on Friday but could not overcome Washington State, falling 61-57 at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe.

Coming into the game, the Sun Devils (7-11, 0-9 Pac-12) had yet to lose a game by single-digits in conference play. And at halftime Friday, they seemed to be headed for another double-digit defeat after a first half with just 19 points.

Trailing 28-19 at the start of the third quarter, ASU proceeded to outscore the Cougars (14-6, 4-5 Pac-12) 22-15 in the period. The Sun Devils held WSU to 6-of-17 (35.3%) shooting in the third and trailed 43-41 heading to the fourth.

“We didn’t start how we wanted,” said ASU guard Jaddan Simmons. “We’d given up threes. But then I think we just talked about it and we went over the game plan again during halftime and we came out and we were really aggressive.”

ASU kept pace with the Cougars throughout the fourth and Simmons’ layup with 3:51 left gave the Sun Devils their first lead of the game, 55-54. However, it would be ASU’s only lead of the game as the Sun Devils added just a lone bucket the rest of the game. WSU made 7-of-8 free throws over the last 3:07 to put the game away and stay off the NCAA Tournament bubble.

The Sun Devils probably would have won the game if they could have bought even a couple more 3-pointers. Take away the threes and the Cougars shot 13-of-40 (32.5%) while ASU shot 23-of-49 (46.9%). The Sun Devils outscored WSU 38-16 on points in the paint and they limited Pac-12 leading scorer Charlisse Leger-Walker, who was averaging 20.7 points per game entering Friday’s matchup, to 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting. On the other end, Simmons had one of her best performances of the season with 20 points.

However, the poor 3-point shooting was just too much for ASU to overcome. The Sun Devils were just 1-of-16 (6.3%) from three on Friday while WSU was 8-of-16 (50%).

“We got to turn the corner and we got to get it done,” said ASU head coach Natasha Adair in a postgame interview with the Sun Devil Radio Network. “And we will. … They’re playing hard and you see them getting better and that’s what I’m proud of. They left it all on the court tonight.”

The Sun Devils’ next game is at home on Sunday at 12 p.m. MST against Washington (10-8, 2-6 Pac-12 entering Friday).