TEMPE, Ariz. – Malena Washington scored 14 points and fellow junior Breanna Workman added 13, but Arizona fell to No. 8 Arizona State 61-49 Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Sun Devils used a hot second half to earn the hard fought victory after the two teams were tied at 26 at halftime. Arizona State opened up a seven-point lead after the third quarter and outscored Arizona 14-9 in the final quarter to secure the victory.

"I thought we played well enough to win in the first half, but the third quarter, we're going to have to look at the film," Coach Niya Butts said after the game. "We put them at the line too many times in that quarter and finished the game with 27 turnovers. When you have 27 turnovers, it's hard to win even when you do a great job on the boards like we did."

Despite the loss, Arizona shot 50 percent from the floor and outrebounded Arizona State 38-20.

Arizona shot 55 percent from the floor in the first half, hitting 11 of 20 shots. Washington had nine points and three assists in 14 minutes and Workman had seven points and three rebounds in 13 minutes as the two teams entered the break tied at 26.

The back-and-forth first half featured six ties and four lead changes. Arizona led for 4:32 of the half, while ASU led for 7:31. The game was tied for nearly eight minutes at 7:57.

Tied at seven, freshman Michal Miller hit a layup to give Arizona a brief two-point lead. But Arizona State responded with a 7-0 run to take a 14-9 lead with 3:14 to play in the first quarter. Butts called her first timeout of the game after the run to settle her team down, and it worked.

Workman hit a pair of free throws to cut it to three and Washington followed with a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 14 with 1:42 remaining in the first. The Wildcats kept scoring with Washington hitting a jumper and Workman converting a layup to make it 18-14 with 37 seconds left in the first quarter. The bucket by Workman completed a 9-0 run for the Cats.

The Sun Devils stopped the run with 19 seconds left in the first quarter with a 3-pointer of their own to make it 18-17 in favor of the Wildcats at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Sun Devils opened up a 24-20 lead with 7:22 to play in the first half. Keyahndra Cannon cut it to a two-point game with a jumper and JaLea Bennett followed with an offensive putback for a bucket to tie the game at 24. The two teams traded a bucket apiece over the final four minutes to make the halftime score 26-26.

Washington finished with 14 points and seven assists in the loss. Workman had 13 points and seven rebounds. LaBrittney Jones added eight points and four rebounds. 

The two teams will meet again Sunday at McKale Center. The game will be televised by Pac-12 Networks and will tip at 5 p.m.