Given the circumstances – the Cardinal was coming off a rare home loss and was celebrating Senior Day – the Sun Devils (11-17, 3-13 Pac-12) showed tremendous poise and determination to stay within striking distance of the Cardinal (24-4, 13-3) for much of the game despite Stanford trying to pull away on several occasions.
Jalyn Brown scored 15 of her team-high 18 points in the second half to lead ASU’s offensive effort. Brown also led ASU in rebounds (5). Trayanna Crisp added 13 points and Mallory Miller, who made her first career start, accounted for 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Journey Thompson and Kadidia Toure had nine points each and Jaddan Simmons led ASU with four assists to go with seven points.
The Sun Devils were exceptional taking care of the basketball on Sunday as they had only two turnovers while forcing Stanford to give up the ball 12 times.
Similar to Friday’s game at Cal, it was a single quarter – in this case the second in which Stanford outscored ASU 23-8 – that prevented the Sun Devils from a potential major upset. In the other three quarters, ASU edged Stanford 59-58.
Much of Stanford’s success was a result of its big advantages in rebounds (56-27), points in the paint (42-22) and second chance points (30-11).
The Sun Devils scored the game’s first four points and went toe to toe with the nation’s No. 3 team throughout the first quarter. Although the Cardinal managed to tie the score three times, the Sun Devils never trailed and took a 15-13 lead into the second quarter.
ASU allowed Stanford to shoot just 31 percent in the opening frame and did not have a single turnover while forcing five Stanford miscues. Crisp led ASU with six points and Thompson and Miller chipped in four points each.
Stanford claimed its first lead in the opening minute of the second quarter and as it eventually turned out would not relinquish the advantage for the remainder of the game.
With ASU trailing 20-15, Brown scored on a layup to make it a one-possession game, 20-17.
It was at that point the game’s biggest momentum swing occurred as the Cardinal scored the next game’s next nine points to take a 29-17 lead.
Toure’s four points paced the Sun Devils, who were outscored 23-8 in the second quarter and trailed 36-23 at the half.
Despite the deficit it faced, ASU started the second half as if it was a brand-new game. The Sun Devils held Stanford without a field goal for the first four-plus minutes and outscored the Cardinal 7-2 to get back within single digits after Thompson’s layup.
The Sun Devils got even closer after Miller’s 3-pointer cut the Stanford lead to just six points, 43-37.
Stanford countered ASU’s run with seven consecutive points to go back up by 13. Toure drilled a triple at the buzzer to get ASU with 10 points going into the final quarter.
ASU was able to get within nine points four times in the last four minutes but was unable to get any closer.
Although it was not able to pull off the comeback, ASU closed the game strong on the offensive end, scoring 27 points (tied for second most in a quarter this season), shooting 54 percent from the floor (7-13) and 77 percent from the line (10-14). Brown led all players in the final period with 12 points (2-2 3FGs, 6-6 FTs).
The Sun Devils close out regular season play this week when they host No. 12 UCLA on Thursday (7 p.m. MST) and No. 7 USC on Saturday (12 p.m. MST).
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Steve Rodriguez
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