Arizona State opens season with statement victory over Air Force

(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)

Arizona State came out firing on all cylinders Tuesday night, defeating Air Force 87-56 in their season-opener at Desert Financial Arena. It was a game of two halves, with the Sun Devils committing nine turnovers in the first half and forcing seven steals in the second half.

The Sun Devils looked strong against the Falcons, locking down defensively to fuel an offensive onslaught.

“We are really talented with our freshmen and our sophomores, and we are going to be a lot deeper on the perimeter than we have been in Robbi, Reili or Kiara’s careers,” Turner Thorne said. “They are great leaders and great teammates, they are happy to share the load and they are going to get to do that this year.”

The newcomers led the way, as guard Sara Bejedi added 12 points and three assists. Bejedi, a freshman from Finland, said that her first Pac-12 game was a dream come true. Fellow freshmen Sydnei Caldwell and Eboni Walker combined to score 13 points, proving the future of Arizona State’s program is bright.

“It’s definitely surreal, last year I was watching Pac-12 from my TV and now I am actually here, so I was definitely nervous, Bejedi said. “My teammates are great with energy. It made playing even easier.”

ASU was defined by its defensive efforts and deep bench-play in the second half, as the nine-man rotation outscored Air Force 27-6 in the third quarter. Senior forward Jamie Ruden led all scorers with 14 points on the night, showing her veteran presence throughout the night.

“I don’t think there is a lot of separation,” Turner Thorne said. “We can kind of plug people everywhere.”

The Sun Devils came out firing at the start of the second half, as Kiara Russell led them to a 13-2 run over Air Force. Russell had back-to-back steals leading to an easy layup the first possession and a simple the trailing Taya Hanson on the second possession.

The team does not necessarily have a bona fide star and lost their two leading scorers in Kianna Ibis and Courtney Ekmark to graduation. But senior transfer Ja’tavia Tapley is filling the shoes left by Ibis last season. She had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks off the bench.

“Going into this game, we knew that we had some good match-ups in the post, so that was one of our emphasis,” Ruden said. “I thought we executed that well in the second half for sure.”

Arizona State senior guard Robbi Ryan did not play Tuesday night due to injury. Ryan is listed as day-to-day. Sophomore guard Jamie Loera is out 4-6 weeks with compartment syndrome.

ASU will continue their non-conference play against Army at Desert Financial Arena on Sunday before going on the road to faceoff against Minnesota Nov. 23.