(Photo: Brooke Faber/WCSN)
After beating Oregon in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament, Washington State has advanced to the second where the will face the Arizona State Sun Devils.
ASU has yet to play a game in the tournament due to the bye they received for finishing top four in the conference. But the Sun Devils did finish out the regular season on a five game winning streak, heading to Seattle, confident that they can come away with the conference championship.
Arizona State faced the Cougars just once in the regular season, winning 78-64 in Tempe early in the year.
Washington State has morphed into a much better unit since then, with Lia Galdeira establishing herself as one of the conference’s top scorers and players.
If the Sun Devils are to force a repeat of the first contest against WSU, they’ll need to capitalize on these three keys to the game.
Replacing Moos
This has been sort of a theme of the season, as it has become quite apparent that Kelsey Moos is struggling to follow up on her stellar freshman season. It’s been a concern for the Sun Devils all season, but against Washington State, Moos showed flashes of her 2014 self. Scoring 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds, playing a big role in ASU’s win over the Cougars in January. Moos has been hindered by injury as of late and won’t be expected to see too many minutes on the floor on Friday. So the player that will be called on to step up should be the 6-foot-4 sophomore, Quinn Dornstauder. The forward has experienced a fantastic breakout season this year, averaging over seven points and five rebounds per game while playing bench minutes. With Moos playing sparingly, look for Dornstauder to have a major impact in ASU’s first bout of the Pac-12 Tourney.
Lock Up Galdeira
As mentioned before, Lia Galdeira has been the second highest scorer in the conference this season. Averaging just over 19 points per game this season. Galdeira has been lightening up the net on just about everybody in 2015, and Arizona State was no exception. Going for 19 points and forcing four turnovers in the loss to the Sun Devils. But ASU was able to hold Galdeira to a terrible shooting percentage, as she hit just six of her 18 attempts from the field and one of her six from behind the arc. But coming off of a career high, 34-point performance in the first round against Oregon, Galdeira comes into Friday with a hot hand. The junior guard will most likely be matched up with defensive stud, Promise Amukamara, an individual battle that is sure to entertain.
Dominate the Glass
This will be a tough one for Arizona State to accomplish without Moos playing much. But the combo of Dornstauder and Sophie Brunner isn’t too shabby when it comes to sucking in rebounds. It helps that Washington State has been one of the worst rebounding teams in the conference. Finishing last in the Pac-12 in defensive rebounds, while the Sun Devils finished atop the same category. If Dornstauder and Brunner can take advantage of Washington State’s poor rebounding, it will create a significant gap between the two teams’ second chance point opportunities.
Prediction
Based on what we’ve seen when these two teams go head-to-head, the advantage has to go to Arizona State. But don’t bank on the Sun Devils riding into the semifinals on a double-digit victory over the Cougs.
There’s always a chance for a Geldeira scoring eruption, and we saw on Thursday that if she gets hot, she can single handedly shoot WSU to victory.
You can catch this one streaming from Seattle on the Pac-12 Networks at 10:30 a.m. MST.
