ASU Women’s Basketball: After slow start, No. 23 Devils cruise to victory over Incarnate Word

(Photo: Tyler Rittenhouse/WCSN)

The Arizona State women’s and men’s basketball teams opened up play in a double-header on Tuesday night, with the women winning convincingly over Incarnate Word, 83-41.

The Sun Devils came into this season ranked No. 23 in the country, and are expected to make a deep run in the Pac-12 and NCAA tournament.

However, on Tuesday evening, the women started off slow, only scoring 14 points in the first quarter.

Senior forward Courtney Ekmark missed her first seven shots from the field, but came alive in the second quarter. The Arcadia High School alum hit a key three-pointer to help the Sun Devils go up by 20 points going into halftime. Ekmark would go on to hit two more three pointers in the second half, finishing with 12 points on 3-9 shooting from behind the arc.

“I just kept shooting, hit one, felt really good, and hit a couple more,” Ekmark said.

While ASU’s offense took a bit to get going, the defense was good from the start. ASU held Incarnate Word to just seven points in the opening period, with the Sun Devils opening the game in a full court press.

Incarnate Word’s starting point guard Imani Robinson struggled, missing easy layups and committing multiple turnovers in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Sun Devils began to pull away led by Taya Hanson. The freshman guard knocked down a pair of three-pointers to help fuel a 14-2 run which pushed the Sun Devils ahead 40-20 at halftime. Hanson ended up with 13 points off the bench.

“It’s overwhelming and nerve-racking… but just having a game under my belt, I feel more confident going into the season.” Hanson said.

Overall, ASU’s three new freshmen, Taya Hanson, Iris Mbulito and Jayde Van Hyfte played aggressively, fighting the nerves of playing in their first NCAA game. The other newcomer, Jamie Loera, did not play in the first game of the season due to illness and is listed as day-to-day.

In the second half, the Sun Devils got out on the run, lead by a combined 21 points from Courtney Ekmark and Jamie Ruden.

Ruden was a spark off the bench with 15 points, in her effort to make “the most” of her time on the court.

This philosophy will be echoed throughout the season, as the Sun Devils look to become one of the nation’s title contenders.

But despite the solid efforts offensively in the second half, head coach Charli Turner Thorne saw room for improvement in both energy and effort on and off the court.

“We took this… almost as a loss, because we didn’t feel like we worked hard enough,” Turner Thorne said.

Specifically, Turner Thorne wants to her team to become “more physical” as the season progresses.

However, she is optimistic that this Sun Devil team is prepared to play with the most elite programs in the country.

“We have really high standards this year,” Turner Thorne said. “We want to be an elite team, we are training to be an elite team.”

That sentiment will soon be put to the test. Over the next two weeks, the Sun Devils have their work cut out for them. The Devils face No. 4 Baylor this Sunday and No. 5 Louisville on Nov. 23rd.