ASU Women’s Basketball: Sun Devils overcome first-half struggles, defeat BYU, 60-52

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

The Arizona State Sun Devils (6-2) overcame first-half offensive woes to defeat BYU (3-3) 60-52, in Tempe Friday night.

“Well, anybody that’s been around for a while knows that we do ugly probably better than anybody,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said.

ASU shot 6-33 (18.2 percent) in the first half, but the Sun Devils rallied behind senior guard Reili Richardson’s big third quarter where she scored 12 of her 15 points.

“Our offense was a little shaky in the first half, so I just looked to be aggressive,” Richardson said of her 12-point second half. “I practice shooting almost every day, and I know I can knock down those shots.”

BYU played stifling defense in the first half. The Cougars only allowed 17 points, and the Sun Devils didn’t score a basket for the last 7:21 of play in the second quarter.

Turner Thorne credited BYU’s defensive success to its 6-foot-7 junior center Sara Hamson, who finished the game with six blocks. Although Hamson was causing havoc down low, Turner Thorne said she was happy with the looks that her team got in the first half.

“We were just rushing. I don’t know if it was the 6-foot-7 kid, but sometimes there isn’t a 6-7 kid out there and we still rush,” Turner Thorne said. “We got great looks, we had some in-and-out threes, shots weren’t falling, and we didn’t execute our break as cleanly as we should have at times.”  

Hamson wasn’t the only big that had an outstanding game however. Senior forward Ja’Tavia Tapley put up a career-high 18 rebounds to go along with her 11 points and five assists.

“She was a warrior,” Turner Thorne said. “Every day and every game she’s getting better, she showed incredible toughness today.”

Tapley’s 18 rebounds were the most by an ASU player in over 20 years. Her outstanding rebounding effort came despite her giving up four inches in height against Hamson.

“As we were preparing, we knew the girls were going to be bigger than us, so we focused on boxing out in practice,” said Tapley, who’s started all six games in the absence of senior forward Jamie Ruden. “My shot wasn’t dropping in the first half, so I made sure I handled the rebounding in the second half.”

The third quarter is where ASU flipped the script of the game, but it wasn’t an ideal start to the quarter for the Devils. BYU opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run before an early timeout by Turner Thorne.

“We just said keep getting stops,” Turner Thorne said. “We just stay positive and make adjustments.”

The Sun Devils definitely adjusted, as they went on a 14-0 run after that timeout. ASU scored 24 points in the third quarter while shooting 50 percent from the field and 57 percent from the 3-point line.

The Devils would finish off the win in the fourth quarter giving Turner Thorne her 450^th career win at Arizona State, and 490^th career win overall.

“I’ve been very blessed to be here as long as I have, and I’ve had amazing players and assistants,” Turner Thorne said.

ASU will be back in action again Sunday as they get set to take on Idaho State (4-2) at Desert Financial Arena at 2 p.m. MT.

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