(Photo: Sun Devil Athletics)
For the first 10 months, head coach Molly Miller’s arrival in Tempe has been rainbows and sunshine straight out of a storybook. A program-record 15-game unbeaten streak to start the season, with numerous game-winners, thrust Arizona State women’s basketball towards the top of the Big 12, a foreign thought for much of this decade.
Saturday afternoon’s encounter against No. 13 TCU (16-1, 4-1 Big 12), however, was the inevitable nightmare that interrupted ASU’s (16-2, 3-2 Big 12) dream beginning. A close first-quarter provided a glimmer of hope, but a monster second period from the Horned Frogs, where they outscored the Sun Devils by 14, was the catalyst for an eventual blowout, as TCU pulled away in the second half to the tune of a 77-46 domination.
A 30-10 TCU run between the end of the second and start of the third quarter proved to be the final nail in the coffin as the Horned Frogs kept their foot on the gas throughout the second half.
Coming into the contest, TCU ranked fifth in the nation in points per game allowed at 52.4 and second in opponent field goal percentage at 31.4 percent, trends that held true against the Maroon and Gold. ASU struggled to create any sustainable offense against one of the toughest defenses in all of college basketball, shooting a season-worst 28.8 percent from the field.
Graduate guard Gabby Elliott was the only Sun Devil to crack the double-digit barrier, and even her production was inefficient, shooting 6-of-16 from the field and 4-of-8 from the free-throw line. Beyond Elliott, the rest of the squad failed to gain any momentum offensively.
Senior guard Marley Washenitz has run hot and cold this season, with eight games above 10 points and eight below before this one, but she had her worst performance of the season, going scoreless on seven shots and fouling out in 31 minutes of action.
Junior forward McKinna Brackens, who’s been arguably the most consistent player to put on a Sun Devil uniform this season, faced a similar level of adversity and ended with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting just one day after her sixth double-double of the year.
A major part of TCU’s advantage began with sophomore center Clara Silva, standing six feet seven inches tall, who was a dominant presence on both ends of the court. Silva’s 10 points and game-high 12 rebounds pop out on the stat sheet but her defensive versatility was the key to stifling this Sun Devils attack.
Silva and senior center Kennedy Basham heavily played drop coverage against ASU’s pick-and-rolls, daring the ball handler to hit pull-up jumpers over them or finish against tough contests at the rim. Neither proposition worked out in the Sun Devils favor, making only 25 percent of their 12 three-point attempts and shooting under 32 percent on layups.
The turnovers didn’t help matters; four of ASU’s five starters had multiple giveaways that prematurely ended possessions. ASU’s lack of high-level shooting – 31.4 percent for the season on 14 attempts per game – doesn’t allow it to have a high margin of error when trying to catch up against explosive offenses like TCU’s.
ASU’s predictability on offense allowed TCU to be in the driver’s seat, controlling where and how the Sun Devils were able to get shots off. Despite a nearly even rebounding battle, Silva’s height and length on the interior limited the Sun Devils to just 16 points in the paint compared to 42 for the Horned Frogs.
TCU consistently had a clear path to the rim, shooting 72 percent on 25 layup attempts and 71 percent on two-pointers overall. Graduate guard Olivia Miles, a likely top-five selection in the 2025 WNBA draft, was quiet in the first half with only seven points but finished with 22 on 9-of-15 shooting, including 10 in the third quarter.
Losses at this level are inevitable for a team still learning about each other, but it’s the philosophies on both sides of the ball that loom larger in the bigger picture. The Sun Devils have had issues putting the ball in the basket on several occasions this season, but clutch play down the stretch and physical defense were able to make up that gap. Today, that chasm was far too large to overcome.
Getting outplayed by a consensus top-20 team in the country isn’t the end of the world, but it’s Miller and the team’s response to these defeats that will ultimately define the characteristics of this program. As of right now, the Sun Devils may not quite be ready for center stage.
