(Photo by Marlee Smith/WCSN Photo)
After falling to unranked Cal on Friday night, No. 17 Arizona State (18-8, 9-6 Pac-12) ended its Bay Area trip with a 71-50 loss to No. 7 Stanford (22-5, 13-3 Pac-12) Sunday afternoon in Palo Alto. Arizona State was able to keep the contest close in the opening 10 minutes, as the Sun Devils and Cardinal were knotted at 14 apiece after the first quarter.
ASU trailed by seven at the half, but a 21-4 Stanford run was the knockout punch for the Devils on this day. In the second half, the Cardinal shot 78 percent and outscored Arizona State 42-28.
But the story of the afternoon and the weekend as a whole for the Sun Devils was the abnormal performance from senior forward Kianna Ibis, and the offense as a whole for ASU. Against the Golden Bears on Friday night, Ibis scored three points on 1-11 shooting. On Sunday, Ibis posted seven points on 3-10 shooting.
Ibis’ three-point performance against Cal was her first game in single-digits scoring since the Sun Devils Jan. 11 loss to Stanford in Tempe, when the senior forward was held to six points on 3-8 shooting. While Ibis struggled all weekend long, the Sun Devils offense struggled throughout.
On Sunday afternoon, redshirt senior guard Courtney Ekmark led the Sun Devils in scoring with 10 points despite a 1-7 shooting performance. As a team, Arizona State shot 30 percent from the field and 25 percent from the 3-point line in Sunday’s loss.
With Arizona State’s two losses this weekend and UCLA’s weekend split at the Oregon schools, the Sun Devils now hold the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament.
Head coach Charli Turner Thorne and the Sun Devils return to Tempe this weekend for matchups with two more highly ranked opponents. On Friday night, the Devils take on No. 12 Oregon State at 6 p.m., before welcoming Sabrina Ionescu and No. 2 Oregon to Wells Fargo Arena Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
