ASU Women’s Basketball: Sun Devils lose third straight with 65-57 loss to USC

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

Behind eight three-pointers in the first half, USC rode much momentum to a 65-57 victory over Arizona State at the Galen Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Trojans went on a 16-0 run from the end of the first quarter into the second quarter and got 30 points from Endyia Rogers as they beat ASU for the first time at home since February 9, 2018.

In the early minutes of the game, ASU received some outside shooting from freshman Jaddan Simmons and junior Taya Hanson, but they were not expecting the entourage of three-pointers from USC.

The Trojans connected five times from downtown with Rogers hitting one from Hollywood Boulevard just before the buzzer as they grabbed a 10 point lead.

The second quarter started just like the first quarter ended. Rogers hit two more three-pointers to extend their lead up to 16. USC forced seven turnovers on the young ASU squad as they turned defense into offense. Their offense was superb in the first half, shooting 56 percent from the field compared to ASU’s 25 percent while USC went eight of 10 from beyond the arc compared to ASU’s three of 17.

“We played horrible offense and defense,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne told KDUS 1060 AM postgame. “They’ve got to figure out how to start a game. They were not ready to play this game and we even knew it as coaches. I don’t think their mental approach is where it needs to be. It’s very frustrating.”

The third quarter saw what Sun Devil fans have seen all season. They came out firing as a quick 10-2 run brought them back to within single digits with easy buckets from junior Iris Mbulito, senior Bre’yanna Sanders and freshman Imogen Greenslade followed by a three from Simmons. Two more baskets in the final 42 seconds of the quarter from Mbulito and junior Jamie Loera cut the deficit to just eight at 50-42 after trailing by 21 points with 40 seconds left in the first half.

“We’re very rusty and all this layoff time really limits us offensively and what we can call,” Turner Thorne commented.

The Sun Devils slowly chipped away throughout the fourth quarter before cutting the deficit to just five on a Hanson three with 1:06 left. The defense did its part as USC did not make a single field goal in the final 6:49 of the game. The problem was ASU let USC get to the free throw line 12 times in that very stretch, where they connected on 11 of those attempts.

“We held them really good in the second half. (We) held them to 25 and we could’ve done that the whole game.” Turner Thorne said.

Simmons went down late in the game with a knee injury. Turner Thorne expects the freshman guard to be okay and ready for their next game.

“She was the one bright spot for us today,” Turner Thorne commented.

ASU has lost three straight games for the first time this season. It falls to 8-6 overall and 4-6 in Pac-12 play.

Simmons led the team with 16 points and Hanson contributed with 12 points. Each grabbed four rebounds apiece.

“We’ve just got to get better,” Turner Thorne said. “We knew it was going to be awesome to have our full team but we also knew everybody was going to be really rusty.”

The Sun Devils will head north to face Oregon on Friday night. The game will tip off at 9 P.M. MST and can be seen on the Pac-12 Network.