(Tempe, AZ) The Sun Devils came back a little road weary as they just completed eight road games out of the last eleven games. They’re home for the next three games that started with a Territorial Cup Game with the Arizona Wildcats.
ASU (17-4) and (4-4) in the Big XII hosted the Wildcats (10-9) and (1-7) in Conference. Both teams have first year coaches with Molly Miller coming over from Grand Canyon University and Becky Burke who came from University of Buffalo. This was both Coach’s first head to head game.
Sun Devils were a slight favorite, but with Territorial Cup points on the line, just like football it’s toss-up. Arizona State came in undefeated at Desert Financial Arena.
First Quarter
The Devils jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first two minutes before Arizona hit a three pointer.
Hitting their second three tied it up 6-6 at the 6:45 mark. From there the game went hack and forth.
ASU wanted to establish a low post presence in the paint while the Wildcats let it fly from beyond the arc.
On the last media timeout of the first quarter at 3:52, had the Sun Devils shooting 5-8 (63%), while Arizona’s only field goals were from three 2-7 (29%). ASU led 12-8.
When the Cats clogged the lane defensively, Jyah Lovett softened their defense with back to back mid-range jumpers and a 16-10 lead.
Both teams showed sparks offensively in the opening period and the Devils had a 16-13 lead.
Second Period
Arizona closed within a point 16-15 at the 8:05 mark. The Wildcats on consecutive possessions had two shot clock violations due to the ball hawking ASU defense.
Arzona State led 23-18 after the UofA tied the score at 18-18 with a 5-0 run. Both teams were very physical on defense with only 15 called collectively causing Burke and Miller to go after the officials.
Sun Devils opened it up at the end of the quarter and took a 33-26 lead into the locker room.
Halftime
Both defenses played very physical and the Refs seemed to them play that way. Each team only shot 8 free throws in the first half, while the ASU defense forced the Cats into 14 turnovers and 7 steals. Arizona State had nearly half of their points off turnovers.
Arizona only shot 39% (9-23) with three of those field goals from three point land.
The Sun Devils were 14-29 (48%), hitting only 2 three’s.
Gabby Elliott led the Devils with 10 points on 5-9 shooting. Jyah LoVett chipped in 6 points on 3-6 from the field.
Third Quarter
Both teams picked up offensive tempo that saw the Wildcats creep back with a possession 33-30 with two layups.
Two possessions later the UofA took their first lead off the game off another layup. 34-33. Noelani Cornfield with 6 quick points was the spark plug for the Cats with their 8-0 run out of the locker room.
Almost at the midway point quarter, the Sun Devils hadn’t scored has they tried to stop the Arizona run 15-0.
Devils offense came to life at the 3 minute mark, but Arizona still led by three 44-41.
With 1:37 to go in the quarter, ASU tied the score at 45-45 with a mop up offensive put-back by Heloisa Carrera.
As the referees let the players go at each other in the first half, it was completely opposite in the second half. Fouls started to mount up on each side.
Fourth Quarter
The UofA took the lead back on the opening possession of the final quarter 51-50. After that, both teams traded the lead until Gabby Elliott gave the Devils a three point lead 56-53.
The defenses showed back up as each team suddenly went cold from the field. With just under four minutes, Elliott sank an 8 footer to give ASU 6o-57 advantage.
In a pivotal point down the stretch, Cornfied miss both free throws that could have drawn the Wildcats within one point,
Arizona did play great defense with a minute to go as Washenitz was forced to heave up a prayer that didn’t draw iron as the shot clock expired.
Elliott hit two big free throws to give the Devils a two possession lead 66-61 with 43 seconds left on the clock.
Then it turned into a free throw shooting affair. Wshenitz sunk both shots to extend the ASU lead to 66-61 with 21.7 seconds left,
ASU added another bucket to take Molly Miller’s first Territorial Cup game 68-61 in her career. Another milestone was tonight’s attendance 0f 6,121 which set an all-time school record between the two rivals in Tempe.
Wrap Up
The Big XII conference games have been some of the best games in the nation. There’s no days off or easy games in this conference.
The story of this game was the runs that each team had, especially the 15 point run that the Wildcats threw at ASU to begin the third quarter. The resiliency that the Sun Devils showed in clawing their way back to maintain the lead 50-49.
A turnaround game with Kansas State coming to town on Sunday at 2 p.m. local time.
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