(Berkeley, CA) It took a slow, methodical effort for the Cal Golden Bears to down the Sun Devil women’s basketball team 74-61 on Monday afternoon.
For the Sun Devils, Monday’s contest was the culmination of what would be a challenging assignment for any team, no matter its situation: playing nine of 14 games away from home to ‘start’ the season.
After Sun Devil guard Treasure Hunt tied the game at 55-55 in the first minute of the fourth quarter, the Golden Bears (10-4, 1-2 Pac-12) unleashed a 12-0 scoring run while holding the Sun Devils scoreless for more than seven minutes.
ASU (7-7, 0-3) still found itself in a 10-point hole, 67-57, by the time Tyi Skinner knocked down two free throws with 2:23 remaining. The Sun Devils were outscored 19-8 in the final frame, as the Bears connected on 50 percent of their shots (7-for-14) over the final 10 minutes.
ASU largely relied on a balanced offensive attack in order to go step-for-step with the Golden Bears, finishing the afternoon with three in double-digits via Jaddan Simmons (14 points), Skinner (13 points) and Hunt (13 points). Skinner also had her first career double-double, made possible by her personal-best 10 rebounds.
The game was a tug-of-war through the first three quarters of play, as each period was separated by five points or less. The Sun Devils had taken a 34-31 lead into halftime, thanks to a string of tough defensive efforts in the second period in which the Golden Bears were mired in a scoring drought that lasted 4:24.
Simmons paced all scorers with 10 points at the break, marking the 10th time this season she’s tallied double-digits.
The Sun Devils and Golden Bears were tied 14 times and swapped leads on 15 occasions.
The game was evened at 20-all after a back-and-forth first quarter was capped by a 6-2 Sun Devil run to close out the period. Playing for the third time in five days, the Sun Devils looked fresh in the opening minutes of the game, jumping out to an early 5-0 lead.
Isadora Sousa, making the first start of her Sun Devil career, opened the scoring with a three-pointer. She finished with seven points and three rebounds in 22 minutes played.
After a tough, three-game road trip to start Pac-12 play, the Sun Devils return home this weekend for matchups against No. 18 Oregon (Friday at 6 p.m.) and Oregon State (Sunday at 11 a.m.).
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Liesl Babicka
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