ASU Women’s Basketball: Sun Devils survive tough battle in first Pac-12 game vs USC 63-58

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

The Arizona State Women’s Basketball team was able to hang on Friday night to beat the USC Trojans 63-58.

The last time these two teams played each other was in January, when ASU won in triple overtime and head coach Charli Turner Thorne earned her 500th career victory. This game did not disappoint either.

The Sun Devils leaned on freshman guard Jaddan Simmons, who had a career high 20 points to lead the way. Simmons looked aggressive from the beginning, attacking the basket and finishing 9-11 at the free throw line.

“Just being in shape a lot more has helped me just play quicker, downhill, and be aggressive,” Simmons said. “I think just continuing that will help us grow in the Pac 12.”

ASU had another balanced scoring attack with Taya Hanson, Eboni Walker and Katelyn Levings all scoring nine points.

However, with this being the team’s first taste of Pac-12 play, they stumbled out of the gate, with the Sun Devils losing 23-17 at the end of the first quarter.

“When we started the game, we were just low energy, and you could see some mental and physical fatigue,” Turner Thorne said.

Turner Thorne attributed this slow start to playing on Monday against St. Mary’s and this being finals week for the university.

The young team shook off the rust and completely flipped the switch in the second quarter, outscoring USC 19-5 and holding them to just one field goal. They were more active and tough on both ends and held star USC guard Endiya Rogers to 1-4 shooting and three turnovers.

“[I was] really proud of this young team,” Turner Thorne said. “They kinda snapped out of it because I just said, ‘Hey you don’t feel like playing today?’ and they said ‘No, we do and we got this.’”

In the third quarter, the youth and inexperience from this team kicked in and the Sun Devils let down their guard. After a strong start highlighted by forced turnovers and fastbreak scores, the team’s offense slowed. USC went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter and lower the deficit to eight points.

“We got away from executing,” Turner Thorne said. “We took shots that we don’t normally take, weren’t ready to shoot at times, and that really impacted our let-ups.”

The game was tight the rest of the way, and it became a back-and-forth battle between two young and talented Pac-12 teams.

“No team in the Pac-12 will ever just let up,” senior Bre’yanna Sanders said, who finished with six points and eight rebounds off the bench. “That was a great opportunity for us to learn that, especially early in the season rather than later, just to never let up and go hard all the way.”

With about three minutes left and ASU leading by two, both teams picked up the defense, and neither scored until Simmons put the game away at the line with three big-time free throws.

“Jaddan’s special … I’m really proud of her but it’s not surprising to any of us,” Turner Thorne said. “She’s just got really good poise and I think you guys saw that today, and a huge competitive spirit.”

Still, the Sun Devils shot only 36% from the field and had 12 bench points, compared to 24 bench points in their previous win against St. Marys.

Those are two things that ASU must improve upon to stay competitive with No. 9 UCLA on Sunday at 2 p.m MST.

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