ASU Women’s Basketball: A tale of two halves rebounding for Sun Devils in 70-61 loss to UCLA

(Photo: Misha Jones/WCSN)

The No. 19 Arizona State Sun Devils (16-6, 6-4) are one of the Pac-12’s undersized teams.

ASU has struggled with rebounding at points during the 2019-2020 season, but in the first half of the Devils’ 70-61 loss to No. 8 UCLA (19-2, 8-2) the team rebounded as well as they have all season.

The Sun Devils out-rebounded the Bruins 28-17 in the first half including 15 offensive rebounds. On one first quarter possession, ASU collected four consecutive offensive rebounds, resulting in a layup for freshman forward Eboni Walker.

The effort on the glass in the first half led to a multitude of second chance opportunities for a Sun Devil offense that had to deal with UCLA’s high-pressure zone defense. ASU went into the locker room up two and in full control of the pace in the game.

“That was the biggest thing [rebounding] we talked about at halftime,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “If you guys limit them to one shot, it’s game over.”

However, the rebounding effort was not the same in the second half.

ASU recorded just two offensive rebounds in the last 20 minutes of the contest, and were out-rebounded by UCLA 20-14 for the remainder of the contest.

“We got the stop, but then we would give up the rebound,” said Turner Thorne of her team’s rebounding in the second half. “We out-rebounded them, but they got key offensive rebounds and when we needed them we didn’t get any.”

The Bruins limiting the Devils on the glass was a major turning point for the game, especially because ASU’s offense struggled to take care of the ball in the second half. This resulted in the Bruins outscoring the Devils 38-27 after the halftime break.

“We try to take accountability for everything that happens,” senior forward Jamie Ruden, who had a team-high 15 points, said. “We didn’t have enough of a consistent effort on the boards, so we’re going to have work on that this week.”

Turner Thorne has talked about how her team’s woes with rebounding at times throughout the season, but the ASU head coach was more frustrated than usual Sunday.

“We had possessions where four out of our five people didn’t find a body,” Turner Thorne said. “We didn’t have it today.”

ASU now has four losses in Pac-12 conference play, but all four losses are from UCLA and in-state rival Arizona, two nationally ranked programs.

The Sun Devils will hit the road next for round two against the Oregon schools. The first game comes against Oregon State in Corvallis Friday. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. MT.