(Phoenix, AZ) If basketball is a game of runs, then both the Sun Devil women’s basketball team and Grand Canyon University exhibited just that in a 40-minute tug-of-war on Wednesday night at GCU Arena.
Ultimately, it was the visiting Sun Devils who put together the final run of the night in a 80-72 win that was enough to stave off Grand Canyon’s raucous home crowd of 6,019.
In the final 10 minutes of play, the Sun Devils rattled off a pair of stretches in which they outscored the Lopes 15-0 and 10-2. They outscored the Lopes 35-18 in the fourth quarter – the most points the Sun Devils have scored in a quarter in program history – and connected on 18 of 24 free throws in that span.
“I’ll tell you, going into the fourth [quarter], we were down by 10 and I looked at the team and said, ‘We’ve been here before,'” head coach Natasha Adair said. “At that moment, they were locked in. [At] no point did I look at my players, and think they didn’t look confident, like we weren’t going to pull out this victory.”
After a GCU lay-in to open the fourth gave the Lopes their largest lead of the night at 56-45, the Sun Devils dug their heels in and went to work. They scored 15 unanswered and held the Lopes scoreless for a near five-minute stretch.
Tyi Skinner drilled a huge three-pointer that helped further slice into the Lopes’ lead and Jaddan Simmons connected on a tough basket on the ensuing possession that tied it at 56-56 with 6:37 left in the game.
Journey Thompson hit from the paint and Simmons was successful on a pair of three throws, which put the Sun Devils up 60-56, the final points of their game-high 15-0 run.
After a GCU three-pointer that shaved the Sun Devil lead to just one, Sydney Erikstrup connected on a pair of three-pointers – giving her a career-high in single-game threes – to push the Sun Devils up, 66-61.
Up five with less than 2:30 to play, the Sun Devils relied on their guard play to clinch the game, as Skinner and Simmons scored 10 of the team’s final 14 points.
Skinner finished with a career-high 29 points, her fourth game of 20-plus points this season, and was near-perfect from the free-throw line, hitting 15 of 17 attempts. Skinner and Erikstrup single-handedly outscored the Lopes in the fourth, combining for 23 points.
Thompson delivered six crucial points off the bench, including a late layup that widened the Sun Devil lead to its largest of the night, 70-61, with just over one minute to play. Thompson also had a significant defensive play during ASU’s 15-0 run, rejecting a shot in the paint that could have given GCU a 58-54 lead. Instead, ASU’s game-changing run continued.
Clutch free-throw shooting was the difference for the Sun Devils, as they converted 29 of 38 attempts (76 percent), compared to the Lopes, who were just 7-for-19 from the charity stripe.
The Sun Devils (6-1) handed the Lopes (5-1) their first home loss this season, snapping a winning streak of seven games at GCU Arena.
“I’m proud of our team and every game, we’re learning more and more about this group,” Adair said. “This is a very young group in the sense of time spent together. I mean, this is only seven games they have played together and for us to be in these [tough] environments, we’re learning so much about one another.
“But, the biggest thing that we’re learning is trust. When we’re battling together, we’re going to come together as one to get the win.”
The Lopes unleashed an offensive outburst that saw them outscore the Sun Devils 23-13 in a near game-altering third quarter. GCU’s Naudia Evans hit a trio of three-pointers – part of the Lopes’ 18-8 run to open the second half – but Meg Newman’s six points in the period helped the Sun Devils weather the storm.
After hitting 3-of-7 threes in the third, the Lopes connected on just one of their final four attempts the rest of the night. With their fourth quarter dominance, the Sun Devils have now outscored opponents 150-128 this season in the final 10 minutes of action.
The Sun Devils took a 32-31 lead at the half after the Lopes strung together 12 consecutive points to open the second quarter. The Sun Devils had scored the final five points of the first quarter, giving them a 20-12 lead after the first, but the Lopes roared back minutes later.
It was a sign of what was to come at the rowdy GCU Arena.
The Sun Devils countered GCU’s 12-0 run to open the second quarter with an 11-6 run of their own to close out the half. Despite being outscored 19-12 in the second quarter, the Sun Devils took the one-point lead into halftime, thanks to Skinner’s 14 points and the team’s 11 second-chance points.
The Lopes kept it tight with their in-state visitors in throughout the opening minutes. Five made free throws by the Sun Devils nudged their lead to 20-12 to bring the first quarter to a close.
The Sun Devils brought their five-game road-trip to an exciting close on Wednesday night and will return home to host the inaugural Briann January Classic at Desert Financial Arena. Named after the 2022 Sun Devil Hall of Fame inductee, the Briann January Classic will feature three games in three days, starting when the Sun Devils host UMass on Friday at 6 pm. The following day, UMass will face Missouri at 3 pm. The event will conclude on Sunday when the Sun Devils take on Missouri at 12:30 p.m. Click here for ticket information.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Griffin Fabits
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