ASU Women’s Basketball: Golden Gophers play spoiler to Sun Devil legend’s jersey retirement

(Photo: Brendan O’Keefe/WCSN)

Arizona State’s plan to win in front of a crowd celebrating former Sun Devil and WNBA legend Briann January were spoiled by Minnesota in an overtime battle Friday night. Minnesota (1-1) capitalized off of multiple Arizona State (1-1) mistakes, grinding out a 66-59 victory. 

The victory was Minnesota’s first of the year after dropping its first regular season opener to Jacksonville. As for the Sun Devils, the loss comes after a dominant 30-point victory over Northern Colorado on Tuesday. 

At the half, everything was sublime for the Sun Devils. They led 27-24 and looked to be in full control as they held the Golden Gophers scoreless in the final four minutes of the half. The early defensive effort was the perfect transition into celebrating one of the greatest defenders in Arizona State women’s basketball history. 

During the half, the crowd at Desert Financial Arena heard from Briann January as her jersey was added to the rafters. January, a two-time Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and 2012 WNBA champion was the third Sun Devil women’s basketball player to have her jersey honored, joining Kym Hampton and Ryneldi Becenti. January’s name is found near the top of most all-time statistics for Arizona State. The former guard and recent assistant coach led the program to the NCAA tournament in all four years at ASU, including two Elite Eight appearances (2007, 2009).

As the celebration ceased, so did the Sun Devil’s success on the court. A rocky start to the second half for the Sun Devils was highlighted with a 9-0 run by the Golden Gophers. The run was stopped by sophomore forward Maggie Besselink as she scored on a left-handed scoop from the post. Despite the beautiful post move from Besselink, what was once a four-point Sun Devil lead had transformed into an eight-point deficit. The defensive identity of Arizona State had vanished and Minnesota took full advantage. 

“Obviously we didn’t come out strong in the third quarter,” Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I had to burn a timeout at the beginning of the third quarter because we didn’t play good defense and we had bad offense.” 

Minnesota outscored Arizona State 22-13 in the third quarter, giving the Golden Gophers a 46-40 lead entering the fourth quarter. Junior guard Jasmine Powell was the focal point of the Minnesota offense, leading all players with 21 points while adding five assists and nine rebounds to her statline. 

“She’s a phenomenal player,” Arizona State senior guard Taya Hanson said. “Our goal heading into the game was to make it tough for her to score, but again we just struggled to execute that plan.”

Despite Powell’s hot hand, Arizona State found a way to crawl back into the game. Trailing by nine midway through the fourth quarter, Hanson hit back-to-back 3s to make it a one possession game. Hanson’s two 3-pointers were as many as the Sun Devils had hit up to that point. Hanson’s shooting spree from behind the arc did not last for long as the Sun Devils never made another 3-point shot. They finished 4 of 22, an 18.2 percent mark from deep. 

“My teammates were finding me and I knew I had to knock those shots down, but I did miss a lot of other ones today that could have helped our team,” Hanson said. 

The Sun Devils scratched and clawed their way back into the game despite the cold shooting. After forcing a Minnesota turnover with just under two minutes remaining in the game, Hanson finished the fast break with a game-tying layup. The game was knotted at 54 and it would stay that way for the remainder of the fourth quarter as neither team could penetrate the other’s defense.

The newly discovered momentum for the Sun Devils quickly became a distant memory as overtime resembled the opening minutes of the third quarter. Arizona State looked flummoxed and exhausted as the Sun Devils only managed to score three points in the five-minute overtime. Minnesota on the other hand looked as comfortable as ever with junior forward Kadi Sissoko and Powell leading a scoring frenzy. 

The scoreboard read 65-57 in favor of the Golden Gophers when the final horn sounded. Somehow, the Sun Devils had forced overtime in a game when they were colder than Minnesota weather. 

“Basketball is a game of mistakes and we made all of them today,” Turner Thorne said. 

The Sun Devils will have plenty of time to iron-out their mistakes and move on from the loss as they do not play until Wednesday November 17 when they make a road trip to Provo to face Brigham Young. 

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