ASU Women’s Basketball: Sun Devils drop third straight

(Photo: Eliav Gabay/WCSN)

In front of an electric crowd, ASU women’s basketball dropped its third Pac-12 conference game in a row, falling to No.11 ranked Oregon State at home.

“I thought we gave a great effort, I liked the effort,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I like how hard we played, we just have to execute better.”

In the first quarter, both teams played each other tough defensively for the first couple of minutes.

Then the Beavers opened things up offensively scoring five points and going up 9-4, forcing Turner Thorne to call a time out.

The Sun Devils responded out of the time out, feeding the ball into senior center Quinn Dornstauder for an easy turn-around jumper.

The Sun Devils tied the game up at 11-11 after working the ball around, and then late in the shot clock senior Sophie Brunner hit a three-pointer.

With seconds remaining in the first quarter, Oregon State advanced the ball up the court finding freshman Katie Tudor for a last second three-pointer.

The Sun Devils were behind 14-11 after just one quarter.

Midway through the second quarter, the both teams were trading baskets as the Sun Devils were down just two points, 25-23.

Freshman guard Robbi Ryan gave her team a much-needed offensive lift scoring five points in the second quarter.

Oregon State closed out the second quarter strong, behind great three-point shooting from guard Sydney Wiese. The Beavers went into the half leading the Sun Devils by six points.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter, both teams displaced lack luster play as they turned over the ball and missed point black layups.

The scoring drought for both teams was broken by Oregon State’s junior center Marie Gulich, who hit a turn around jumper and put her team up 33-26.

Sophomore forward Kianna Ibis would score five points as ASU struggled to create offense.

Late in the third quarter, the Beavers would ramp things up offensively as they went ahead by 10 points.

The Sun Devils were missing out on points, as they were just 2-8 from the free-throw line through three quarters.

The Beavers held a 45-36 lead heading into the final quarter of the ball game.

Early in the fourth quarter, Oregon State continued its hot shooting from behind the arc, and Wiese drilled her fourth three of the game.

The senior center Dornstauder battled and attempted to bring her team back scoring a jumper as she got fouled and cut the deficit to seven points.

Late in the final quarter, the crowd roared loud as freshman Reili Richardson drove the ball the length of the court, finishing a layup and brought her team within five points.

After ASU pulled within five points, the Beavers executed on offense, going on a 5-0 run and extending the lead to 54-45.

Oregon State held the Sun Devils scoreless for the remainder of the contest as they solidified the 54-45 lead.

Player of the game: Sydney Wiese

Wiese lit it up from downtown, as her team went 6-13 from beyond the arc and she was responsible for a total of four of those three-pointers.

Biggest concern: Offense

The Sun Devils struggled to find additional offensive options outside of senior forwards Dornstauder and Brunner. Moving forward, it’s vital that ASU receives more offensive contributions.

“We just have to figure it out,” Tuner Thorne said. “The thing we’ve done for 20 years here is if we were not scoring the other team didn’t score, this team doesn’t quite have that level of toughness yet.”

Stat of the night

The Sun Devils shot 16 percent from behind the arc and 33 percent from the floor. In comparison, Oregon State shot 46 percent from three and almost 50 percent from the field.

“We just have to be able to hit shots and be confident when we shoot,” Brunner said. “We were not able to hit a lot of shots today, we have to regroup and get back on our winning ways.”

What’s next?

The Sun Devils will be back in action on Sunday as they face off against University of Oregon at 12:00 p.m. MST at Wells Fargo Arena.

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