(TEMPE, AZ) The Sun Devil women’s basketball team scored 79 points, shot 49.2 percent (second-highest mark of the season), connected on season-high percentages at the free throw line (88.2) and from beyond the arc (44.4 percent) and had a season-low 13 turnovers in Sunday’s final game of the annual Briann January Classic.
Those were just the offensive highlights from ASU’s 79-60 win over former Pac-12 foe Oregon State. Defensively, the Sun Devils recorded opponent season lows for points (60), field goals (19), 3-point field goals (3) and 3-point field goal percentage (13.4) and had season highs in shot blocks (eight), turnovers forced (19) and points scored off turnovers (26) in what added up to ASU’s largest margin of victory this season.
Tyi Skinner scored 20 or more points for the third time this season (21 points/8-11 FGs, 4-4 FTs), Jalyn Brown had 12 points (5-8 FGs) and Kennedy Basham and Jazion Jackson had identical double-doubles (10 points, 10 rebounds) in the win. Basham also had a game-high six shot blocks, or twice as many as the Beavers had as a team (three). Jyah LoVett nearly had her third-straight game scoring in double figures (eight points) and tied with Jackson for the team lead in assists (three) and had a game-high three steals.
After scoring 41 points in the first half of Saturday’s win over SMU, the Sun Devils (3-2) once again surpassed the 40-point mark, putting up 42 to take a 12-point halftime lead for the second consecutive game.
After scoring 23 points over the last 30 minutes of Saturday’s win, Skinner continued to have the hot hand at the outset on Sunday, scoring 11 points (4-4 FGs, 1-1 3FG, 2-2 FT) to help the Sun Devils jump out to a 21-14 advantage after 10 minutes of play.
In the second quarter, seven different Sun Devils combined for 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting (53 percent). LoVett (six points, 3-5 FGs) and Jackson (five points, 2-2 FGs) combined for a slight majority (11) of ASU’s points.
Nevaeh Parkinson’s jumper with 2:56 remaining in the first quarter, which cut the Beavers’ lead to 14-12, started the game’s most significant stretch in which ASU outscored the Beavers 13-0 over 3:06 of game time. Brown’s layup 10 seconds into the second quarter gave the Sun Devils a 23-14 lead.
Lovett’s bucket later in the quarter gave ASU its first double-digit lead, 29-18. Oregon State (1-3) answered to make it a nine-point game. Although it was not known at the time, Basham’s jumper on the opposite end removed any suspense about which team would come out the winner as the Sun Devils maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.
ASU’s lead eventually ballooned to 27 points, 77-50, after Brown’s 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining in the game provided the cherry on top of a 9-0 burst by ASU.
The Sun Devils, who have played their first five contests in either Tempe (four) or Phoenix (one), will now prepare for what figures to be the most challenging stage of the season as forty-three days separate the time between Sunday’s win and the next time they will play a game in the Valley of the Sun.
In the interim, ASU will play neutral site games vs. current No. 20 Kentucky (Nov. 26) and South Dakota (Nov. 27) at the Coast2Coast Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn., a road game at Coppin State (Dec. 5), and a third neutral site game vs. Maryland Eastern Shore in the Coaches vs Racism Classic in Washington D.C. (Dec. 7).
After visits to Music City, Baltimore, Md., and the nation’s capital, ASU will take an extended break for final exams before once again leaving the state of Arizona for road games at UC Davis (Dec. 15) and at San Francisco (Dec. 17). The seven-game stretch away from home will conclude with ASU’s first ever Big 12 Conference game when it plays at Utah on Dec. 21.
The Sun Devils return to play in Tempe on Dec. 30 when they host Penn at Mullett Arena. Click here to purchase tickets to what will be Sun Devil Women’s Basketball’s inaugural appearance in SDA’s newest on-campus Multi-Purpose Arena.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Steve Rodriguez
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