(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
It had been 619 days since the Arizona State Sun Devils (1-0) played a game at Desert Financial Arena in front of fans. While the rest of the world has changed immensely, women’s basketball in Tempe has remained the same. Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne returned to Tempe for her 25th season at the helm and opened the 2021-22 season with a 71-41 victory over Northern Colorado.
“Obviously, coming off maybe the hardest year I’ve ever had as a coach. To play together, play five-on-five and hear each other because we are not masked up all the time was amazing,” Turner Thorne explained the differences from this offseason to the 2020 offseason. “I’m excited. I feel really good about this group. I think we’re back to the level we’re used to being at and are going to compete for a Pac-12 championship.”
Arizona State was back in action on Tuesday night in its first real game experience Turner Thorne’s squad had faced this season; as they did not have any exhibition games before the season opener. The Bears enter the season with new head coach Kirsten Mattio, who spent the last six seasons at the helm of West Texas A&M.
The Sun Devils came out of the gates with aggression, forcing three turnovers in the first two minutes of the game. Arizona State applied pressure on both ends of the floor but made their defensive presence known. Their full-court press denied Northern Colorado the opportunity to set up on the offensive end. With pressure on the Bears, the Devils were able to force ten of their 32 turnovers in the first quarter, allowing them to get out into transition and score on the fast break. Combine that with Northern Colorado’s seven-point first-quarter performance and ASU held a comfortable early lead.
“We did a really good job of pressuring them. We had a few too many fouls when we took their other options away and they put their head down and drove,” Turner Thorne explained. “I was really pleased with our defense in both halves.”
In the first quarter, Arizona State, led by senior guard Taya Hanson, played with aggression on both ends of the floor. Hanson got most of her points by driving to the basket and getting to the charity stripe. The 5-foot-10 guard would score four of her six points from the line.
The Devils were able to build a 12-point lead that would prove to be vital as the offense had become disorganized. The 6:07 mark was the start of a scoring drought for Arizona State. The drought would last for 5:14, but the Bears were unable to break the Devils’ defense. Although they lost their aggression on the other end of the floor, Arizona State was able to stand its ground and continue its defensive effort, thus minimizing the damage.
A leading cause for their lack of scoring was Northern Colorado’s defense. The Bears went from playing a zone defense to man-to-man, something the Devils were not ready for. Even with their scoring drought, Arizona State managed to finish the quarter with 15 points.
Unfortunately for the Devils, the scoring drought would carry over to the third quarter. It took Arizona State six minutes to find the bottom of the net in the second half. While Arizona State struggled to find a way to score, Northern Colorado was busy chipping away at the lead. The Bears went on a 7-0 scoring run and managed to cut the 16-point deficit to nine.
“We just need to get comfortable being up and not taking our foot off the gas because we did that in our scrimmages, as well,” Turner Thorne told reporters. “We had good leads and kind of took our foot off the gas.”
Once the Bears had managed to cut the deficit to single digits, it was senior transfer Jade Loville who would get the offense back on track. To end the drought, Loville drilled a three-pointer. Loville would light a spark that would catch the tinder of Arizona State’s offense. The Scottsdale native would hit another three-pointer and two jump shots to finish the quarter with 10 points. Sixteen of her team-leading 18 points came in the second half.
“It just means so much more,” Loville, a Scottsdale native, explained of playing in her home state. “I’m playing for so much more. It’s great to be back. It comes full circle, and I couldn’t be happier to be here.”
The Devils entered the fourth quarter with an 18 point lead and were looking to do more damage. Once again it was Loville who would add to the lead. She chipped in with six points and lead the way to a 30-point victory. The Bears offense was able to produce, but the Sun Devil defense forced them to fight for every scoring opportunity. Arizona State had three of its 14 steals in the fourth quarter and rejected two shots.
The dominant play on the defensive end was enough to give Arizona State a 71-41 victory. Their full-court presses and aggression gave them an early advantage that was never lost. The Sun Devils finished last season as the third-best defensive team in the Pac-12.
The Sun Devils will return to action on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7:00 pm against Minnesota. The Golden Gophers (0-1) will enter Tempe looking to bounce back after an opening-night loss to Jacksonville. Arizona State will also honor WNBA star and Sun Devil legend, Briann January, by raising her No. 20 jersey to the rafters at Desert Financial Arena.
“It was a good team win. I thought we were nervous. I thought we just had first-game jitters,” Turner Thorne said. “We came out; we punch hard, but then we’re not in great game shape yet, obviously, so we got a little tired.”
