(Tempe, AZ) After hanging in against no. 18 Oregon on Friday night, the Arizona State women’s basketball team dropped a tight contest to the Oregon State Beavers, 69-59, in an early morning contest at Desert Financial Arena. The Sun Devils trailed as much as 16 in the first half before rallying to cut the lead to four.
The Sun Devils (7-9) struck first off a Treasure Hunt layup but from there the Sun Devils struggled to make shots in the first quarter. They opened the first quarter shooting 3-23 but made it up on the other end of the floor forcing Oregon State (10-6) to commit five turnovers to make the score 16-7 after one.
The shooting woes continued in the second quarter as the Beavers built their lead up to 13. Skinner knocked down a three right before the half to cut the lead to ten.
ASU came alive in the third quarter going on a 14-0 run to cut the Beavers’ lead to six. Tyi Skinner and Jaddan Simmons each put up four points during that run to keep the Devils within striking distance. The lead was cut to four off a Skinner layup but the Beavers pulled away in the fourth to hold on for the win.
Skinner finished the game with 22 points, and is now 8 away from 1,000 career points.
The Sun Devils finished the game causing 20 turnovers and grabbed 42 rebounds. Journey Thompson finished with a career-high 12 rebounds.
Up Next:
The Sun Devils are back on the road as they travel to face Utah and Colorado on January 13th and 15th.
Quotes:
Arizona State Head Coach Natasha Adair:
Opening Statement:
“I’m going to applaud my players effort today. We are constantly talking about playing 40-minutes and playing hard. I thought they played so hard, I thought they played together. I thought we were disruptive and I thought they did everything we had asked them to do from a defensive standpoint. When you look at the stat sheet with 26 points in the paint, 14 points off turnovers and 20 fast break points. That’s a team that’s playing extremely hard. Then you go down the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and it’s an even ball game. The shots we got in the first were the shots that we wanted. They just didn’t fall. So did we put together the 40-minute complete game? Not yet. But we will. That’s the thing we keep talking about. No, it doesn’t feel well, but we don’t like it, we don’t celebrate moral victories but I don’t want to dismiss the fact that they’re playing hard. That is going to transfer, as you’re building a culture and learning one another, these are people that have been together for 9-10 months. They’re trying to figure it all out so no it’s not the win but we have small victories that we’re checking off. We will get that big victory because these are players that give it their all every day. You all don’t see how hard they’re working and how bad they want it.”
On forcing 17 turnovers and being effective on defense:
“We want our offense activated by our defense. From day one it’s been defend, rebound, run and then score. As we’re creating our identity we want to be disruptive, we want to score in transition, we want to score off of our defense. We’re building our identity in who we are and they take pride in that. They like playing defense, we’re still learning. on what players can do what.”
On being five-games in Pac-12 play and where the team is:
“I think the team is hungry, I think the team is building, I think the team is connecting. What I really think is they’re seeing it. It’s one thing as a coach when you’re building a system and a program and you’re doing it with players that’s never seen it except one. Buy-in isn’t just because I’ve asked them to buy-in. It’s trust. It’s consistency.
Arizona State Guard Jaddan Simmons:
On Second Half Adjustments:
“Like Coach says, defense leads to offense. The shots weren’t hitting in the first quarter, so I knew we had to come out aggressive. We had to come out of the locker room with energy. I just changed my mindset and said we got to get back in this game.”
On a 17 turnover team effort:
“I was just reading it. I could see when they were passing, and then just do a pretty good job at reading their eyes. We came out playing press in the second half and we got a lot of turnovers off of it. We were just looking to capitalize.”
Arizona State Forward Journey Thompson:
On her defensive presence:
“I consider my role is to play solid defense and rebound. I know I’m not here to score like Jaddan. I am focused on my job. To limit them to one shot, box out, and initiate the contact.”
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Marco Salas
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