(Photo: Tyler Rittenhouse/WCSN)
After knocking off Idaho 77-33 on Monday, ASU women’s basketball capped off its non-conference schedule with another impressive victory as the Sun Devils (9-3) defeated Arkansas 89-43 on Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena.
ASU was led by junior Courtney Ekmark, who finished the game with a career-high 23 points and tied the school record with seven three-pointers. The mark tied assistant coach Briann January, who accomplished the feat on December 3, 2008.
“I’ve been trying to stay with things and stay positive,” Ekmark said. “Shots haven’t been falling as much as I’d like for them to be at the beginning of the year.”
Ekmark tied January, Crystal Cobb and Ryneldi Becenti for the most threes in a single game in school history.
Another standout performance from the Sun Devils came from Jamie Ruden, who contributed 14 of the 34 total points off of the bench and shot a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
“Courtney puts in so much work in on her shot,” Ruden said. “She’s going to be a great shooter no matter what, even if like the past few games her shots not falling. She’s just going to come back and be a process shooter and do what she does best.”
Not only did ASU dominate from the three-point line, the Sun Devils dominated in the paint as well, outscoring the Razorbacks 46-22 behind 13-point performances from Kianna Ibis and Charnea Johnson-Chapman.
Ekmark led the Sun Devils from the beginning, coming out of the gates firing as three of her three-pointers came in the first period of play. The junior transfer from UConn continued dominating throughout the game as she was outscoring Arkansas 20-19 at one point in the third quarter.
The Sun Devils’ dominance from the beginning also came due to their defense, which caused 12 of Arkansas’ 23 turnovers in the first quarter. The Razorbacks came into the game ranked second in the nation with just 10 turnovers per game. ASU would score 31 of its 89 points off of the 23 turnovers they forced in the game.
The Sun Devils continued to pull away in the second quarter as they used a 20-0 run to close out the final six minutes of the quarter. Ruden and Ekmark combined to hit all nine of the Sun Devils’ three-pointers in the first half as the team shot 69% from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.
“I’ve been talking about our perimeter shooting all year, and it’s just awesome for Courtney to break out today…Jamie to continue to do what she does,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I’m excited how our offensive roles are continuing to develop and grow.”
The maroon and gold effectively moved the ball around and got all of its players involved. The Sun Devils finished with 27 assists, with Reili Richardson leading the way with 9.
The dominating performance continued in the second half as the Devils were able to outscore the Razorbacks 21-11 in the third period of play before beginning to struggle early in the fourth. ASU struggled to maintain the hot pace to begin the fourth and were outscored 18-16 as a result.
With the win, the Sun Devils finish their last two non-conference games outscoring opponents by an average of 45 points. ASU will begin Pac-12 play on Dec. 29 against Colorado.
