(Photo via Janaé Bradford/WCSN)
Arizona State Women’s Basketball will make the pilgrimage to New Mexico to try and feast on the Lobos in its last game before Thanksgiving.
The Sun Devils are coming off their most complete game of the season against Montana State, where they started the game with a 20-0 run and scored a season-high 79 points en route to their win. Head coach Natasha Adair was happy to see her team’s half-court offense execute so well.
“We want to make sure we value both sides of the ball, so if we have great numbers in transition, so be it, but if not, we have so many good things that we can do offensively in the half court,” Adair said. “I thought we really executed very well, and we shared the ball. We made the extra pass. We hit open shots. We put foul pressure on them, so I thought we just played a very balanced offensive game.”
Although it took until game three for ASU to shoot over 40% from the field, Adair is not concerned. She knows that chemistry builds over time, and the team has to focus on one thing at a time in order to grow.
“We compartmentalize it,” Adair said. “We talked about our defense. We talked about our offensive execution. Going into this game, we’re talking about our rebounding, and that’s an area we want to continue to get better, especially against a New Mexico team that loves to crash the [offensive] boards. I think if we simplify it, it doesn’t allow them to lose focus.”
The Sun Devils will need all their focus against the Lobos, who are coming off a school record 26-10 campaign last season. Despite last year’s outstanding finish, the Lobos have started this season 1-2 and are coming off a tough overtime loss to their in-state rival, New Mexico State.
New Mexico is led by senior guard Latora Duff and senior guard LaTascya Duff, who are twin sisters. They are both offensive threats who bring different skills to the table. Latascya Duff led the Mountain West Conference in threes made last season while Latora Duff was third in the conference in assists per game. The Lobos are anchored in the paint by senior forward Shaiquel McGruder, who was named to the Mountain West All-Conference team and All-Defensive team last season.
For ASU, junior guard Tyi Skinner and junior guard Jaddan Simmons will have a lot on their plates matching up with the twins, though the two have not backed down from a challenge thus far. Skinner leads the team with 17.6 points per game and has increased her scoring output with each game. Simmons is right behind her with 16.3 points per game while shooting an efficient 51.9% from the field.
According to Skinner, this ASU team has already improved a lot in its three games and is only getting better.
“In the first game, we were still getting used to each other, obviously we don’t have the best team chemistry,” Skinner said. “We’re trying to build it each and every day. The first game we weren’t running as much, and now you can see by the time we hit the third game, we’re holding teams to less and less points, we’re running, pushing the ball in transition.”
The Sun Devils will have another chance to improve when Sunday’s game tips off in Albuquerque. With a win, they’ll secure just the second 4-0 start in the last five seasons.
