(Photo: Brendan O’Keefe/WCSN)
Arizona State is the only remaining women’s basketball team in the Pac-12 without a conference game under its belt.
The Sun Devils start their Pac-12 play against the No. 22 team in the nation and the fourth-ranked team in Pac-12 play. The Colorado Buffaloes are considerably a contender for the Pac-12 crown. Colorado, led by senior forward Mya Hollingshed, has found major success early in the season only losing three games. Arizona State is coming into this game with two new faces to the division, Jade Loville and Mael Gilles.
These two transfers are ecstatic to step foot into Pac-12 play, and they are jumping right in. With postponements, Gilles believes the return to action has been a long time coming and she expects to be running up and down the floor against this new level of basketball. Gilles is prepared for a different type of physicality compared to the beginning of the year.
“These really up and down teams can be physical,” Gilles said. “There is a different breed of guards in the Pac-12 and I am really excited to see that,” Gilles added.
However, there are some familiar faces to the Pac-12 and guard Taya Hanson is happy to be back and ready to take on her past rivals within the league.
“We are feeling pumped and ready to go, and ready to start Pac-12 off with a bang,” Hanson said.
Hanson is confident about their reports on the Buffaloes, and the team is in one short term, confident. The Sun Devils are grateful to have all of their players back in rotation after many subsidizing injuries early in the season. Without game action since Dec. 30, ASU has gone over three weeks without playing against another opponent.
“I am ready to go and I know my teammates have my back and are ready to go,” Hanson said. “It almost feels like preseason, but we are ready for that.”
One thing Arizona State continuously believes is that they are controlling what they can control. With six straight games postponed, the Sun Devils are ready for what is now ahead of them, even after having to change game plans on a daily basis.
“It’s brutal,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne exclaimed. Thorne also agreed with Hanson in that it felt like the start of the season. “It’s been so long, it almost feels like we are starting over.”
Thorne, however, is not worried about the games they missed, but excited about the games they have planned ahead.
“We have such a great conference, it’s about quality, we will have plenty of games to build our resume and prove ourselves and that is all we need.”
The resume building process begins Friday, Jan. 21, as the Sun Devils step into Desert Financial to protect the home court against the Colorado Buffaloes. The Devils have a quick turnaround with another matchup on Sunday, Jan. 23 when they get a visit from Utah.
