The Arizona State women’s basketball team came into Saturday’s game expecting to dominate against winless Binghamton in the ASU Classic. Even though the Sun Devils beat the Bearcats 60-35, the team did not play to its full potential.
The Sun Devils (3-3) started the game strong scoring 12 consecutive points before the Bearcats made their first basket. Senior forward Janae Fulcher led the way in scoring with 11 points followed closely by freshman guard Isidora Purkovic who had 10. Freshman forward Haley Videckis also grabbed nine rebounds and the team combined for 13 steals.
Despite winning, head coach Charli Turner Thorne was disappointed in her team’s performance.
“Our team knows they did not play their best basketball. They did not bring the energy and focus they should have,” Turner Thorne said at the post game press conference.
As the game progressed, it was evident that the Sun Devils focus was not always present. The team turned the ball over 21 times and committed 21 fouls. In the second half, the Sun Devils shooting percentage dropped from 55.6 to 38.5 percent. A huge contributor to this decrease was the team’s inability to make easy shots in the paint against the Bearcats zone defense.
Since Turner Thorne and the rest of the coaching staff was confident coming into Saturday’s game, they utilized the bench consistently.
“Usually we are very strategic on our combinations and our lineups and we weren’t. We wanted to give everybody minutes,” Turner Thorne said. ASU’s bench contributed 30 of the 65 points, but the youth and inexperience of the team still showed through the number of turnovers and declining shooting percentage throughout the game.
The Sun Devils will face a much stronger opponent in No. 23 Dayton Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Dayton beat UNLV 82-58 following ASU’s game.
