ASU Women’s Basketball: Hanson shines as Sun Devils defeat Cal 56-53

(Photo: Ryan Blank/WCSN)

The Arizona State Women’s Basketball team got off to its second straight slow start as it trailed California by nine at the half, but a 37-25 second half spurt pushed the Sun Devils to a 56-53 win at Desert Financial Arena on Friday night.

Junior Taya Hanson scored a team-high 21 points and hit seven three pointers, tying the ASU record for most three-pointers in a game.

“It’s a pretty awesome feeling,” Hanson said. “I’ve been out of flow for quite a bit now and tonight felt different and felt really good.”

Head coach Charli Turner Thorne shared her thoughts after the New Year’s Day win.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Turner Thorne said. “We’re missing three core players and have had a lot of adversity with the three hour delay, and the only player we had out on the court with any experience was Taya Hanson. She stepped up and I’m so happy for her. It was a great display of toughness.”

The game was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. MST but a delay in testing and receiving results prompted the game to not begin until a little after 6:30 p.m. MST.

Both teams also had short benches on Friday night. ASU had nine players suited up while Cal had just seven players see the floor.

ASU opened up a nine-point lead with 5:12 left in the game, but Cal used the free throw line to slowly but surely get back into it. Leilani McIntosh and Evelien Lutje Schipholt were the beneficiaries of that.

Dalayah Daniels hit a three with 41 seconds left to cut the ASU lead to just 54-53. The Sun Devils drained down as much clock as possible, but a shot clock violation gave Cal the ball back with nine seconds left to potentially win the game. McIntosh drove the length of the floor but missed everything as the ball went out of bounds. After a timeout and two Jaddan Simmons free throws, the Sun Devils celebrated win number one in 2021.

The first eight minutes of the game saw a lot of back and forth between the two teams. However, Cal created some separation in the final two minutes of the quarter by going on a 9-0 run. McIntosh and Ugonne Onyiah were responsible for scoring burst by each hitting a jumper and a lay up with Onyiah hitting a three with just over 30 seconds left in the quarter to give the 0-7 Golden Bears an 18-11 lead at the end of one.

Three pointers by Hanson and junior Jamie Loera brought the Sun Devils to within one early in the second quarter, but Cal would dominate the final five minutes of the half, holding ASU to zero points in the final 5:30 of the half. The Golden Bears would use that time to go on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 28-19 at the intermission.

ASU would ride the hot shooting hand of Hanson to help close the gap to 34-28 in the third. Simmons, Loera, and freshman Imogen Greenslade would be the ones to bring them all the way back, and Simmons’ jumper gave ASU a 40-39 lead, its first since it was 11-9 with 2:38 in the first quarter.

“These girls may not have the experience, but they’re good players and they work their butts off,” Hanson said. “I’d take that over experience and we’re only going to build from there.”

Hanson went 7-10 shooting from beyond the arc. The team had a season high 18 assists and racked up 10 steals.

“I think they’re getting the offense better and we were getting shots off of it and weren’t forcing things,” Turner Thorne said. “It’s going to be critical as we move forward that we continue to do that but it was much better in the second half.”

The Sun Devils will host No. 1 Stanford at Desert Financial Arena on Sunday at 4 p.m. MST. The game will air on the Pac-12 Network.