(Photo via Maya Diaz/WCSN)
SAN FRANCISCO — With 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Arizona State women’s basketball trailed the University of San Francisco 59-57. The Sun Devils had plenty of time to inbound the ball from the sideline and look for a good shot to tie the game.
On the inbound play, the ball found its way into the hands of the Sun Devils’ leading scorer, graduate guard Tyi Skinner. Skinner was looking to score. Instead of passing to a teammate, she took a screen and released a stepback jumper that would’ve tied the game if it hadn’t missed just short and been rebounded by San Francisco.
Arizona State (5-6) had to start fouling San Francisco (3-6) who made 8-of-10 free throws to close out the game. The Sun Devils’ 67-64 loss at the War Memorial at the Sobrato Center on Tuesday afternoon marked the second loss of the Sun Devils two-game California trip after falling to UC Davis on Sunday.
Similarly to Sunday, shooting was an issue on Tuesday as the Sun Devils only managed to shoot 32.4% from the field. Skinner, who led the team with 27 points, did her damage on just 33.3% from the field. Despite that, head coach Natasha Adair didn’t have much of a problem with Skinner’s shooting.
“I thought she took them in rhythm. I thought she took them in flow. I thought she let that come to her,” Adair said. “Down the stretch, obviously, she was head hunting more just to get more offensive traction, but Tyi’s a scorer. Nothing’s going to keep her down.”
Still despite the high-scoring performance, the trip to California was one that Skinner will most likely want to forget. Before Tuesday and Sunday’s game – where she went 2-11 from the field – Skinner’s field goal percentage on the season was 43.1%, now it’s down to 39.9%.
While not having great shooting numbers overall, Skinner shot 37.5% from three, including two impressive shots from beyond the arc within the last minute.
Skinner hoisted 38% of the Sun Devils’ field goal attempts Tuesday. The team struggled to find the extra pass, and it showed up in the box score. Arizona State only managed to record three assists in the game.
“This is a group that’s learning, that hadn’t really played together,” Adair said. “It’s still some chemistry issues out there as well when they hadn’t logged a lot of minutes together.”
Part of the reason the Sun Devils’ chemistry might have been off was because three regular starters were missing from the lineup. Graduate guard Jazion Jackson, graduate center Navaeh Parkinson and junior guard Jalyn Brown, who is second on the team in scoring, were all out Tuesday.
Brown especially is a key cog in the Arizona State offense. Adair referred to Brown’s wrist injury as “day-to-day” and said that the team will know more once they get back in Tempe.
Still, whether the Sun Devils have all their starters or not, the ball movement and offense overall will have to improve quickly with conference play starting on December 21.
One player that stepped up in a major way in Brown’s absence was sophomore guard Jyah LoVett. LoVett scored 14 points on 46.2% from the field and recorded four rebounds and three steals as well.
“I call her my pitbull,” Adair said. “She’s a three-level scorer. She takes pride on the defensive end first, and she’s just relentless. She just has this motor, if you will, that is always in go mode, always in competitive mode. … The future is bright”
LoVett was just one of many Sun Devils to put on a good defensive performance. Junior guard Kennedy Fauntleroy had six steals on the afternoon and junior forward Kennedy Basham had seven blocks, the most by a Sun Devils since Kali Bennett had nine in 2012.
“Kennedy Basham has a presence inside, she alters shots. She’s done a phenomenal job game and game and game and blocking shots,” Adair said. “Kennedy Fauntleroy has cat-like instincts. She’s studying her opponent and she’s looking when she’s going to steal the ball. Those steals turned into points for us.”
Arizona State’s defense managed to hold San Francisco to an inefficient 28.6% from the field and 10.5% from three, but one area they couldn’t stop the Dons was rebounding. San Francisco outrebounded the Sun Devils 20-11 offensively and 38-28 defensively.
“We talked about limiting them to one shot, one contested shot,” Adair said. “In some instances those long rebounds where we got to get the guards to dig out and then position rebounding go with one versus going with two. Anytime you get second and third opportunities on any shot percentages obviously go up.”
Part of the rebounding struggles could be attributed to not having Jackson and Parkinson, who are second and third on the team in rebounding. On the court, however, it seemed the Sun Devils just didn’t show sufficient effort on the glass.
ASU has multiple parts of its game to work on as conference play gets underway, and despite the early season struggles, Adair’s message to the team is still the same.
“Fight, compete, that doesn’t change,” Adair said. “The good thing is we got some players that were coming off the bench that logged a lot of minutes and our depth is going to be key for conference play.”
