Budding Superstar Leads Sun Devils to 7th Victory

Photo: Madison Sorenson/WCSN

On a day that is sure to be full of iconic Sun Devil performances, a new star was born in freshman guard Amaya Williams, who led the Sun Devils to their 7th straight victory to start the season on Friday morning.

Williams led the way in scoring for ASU with 18 points and shooting a very efficient 8-10 from the field and 1-1 from three in the Sun Devils’ 59-41 victory over the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“Molly’s been putting a lot of confidence in me,” said Williams. “Like all the time in practice, Molly, Coach Norman, Glove, Coach DB, Abby, they’re all telling me to look for my shot more, so I can become more of a threat on the court.”

The Sun Devils started slow out of the gates. By the first media timeout, they had mustered only two points and trailed 5-2.

That may have been due in part to the abnormal start time of the game at 10:30 a.m. local, but that’s no excuse for the start the team had, said head coach Molly Miller.

“I don’t care who we’re playing, what time it is, if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, when you come here, there’s a mentality,” said Miller.

After that point, the Sun Devils took off, holding a 33-14 lead by halftime, much in part due to their play off the bench.

Williams’ breakout game came through a new opportunity and responsibility for the young freshman as she led the team in minutes with 31 and was given the nod to start the second half.

“So, Amaya, you’re starting, and Deb, you’re starting because we were better when you were in the game, because of that defensive intensity,” Miller. “I think you’ve got to reward what you’re preaching.”

That defensive intensity was the name of the game for the Sun Devils, who had 13 steals, forced 23 turnovers, and scored 21 points off those turnovers.

ASU also held Little Rock to 13-48 from the field and 5-17 from three, which are both below 30%.

“Shrink the court,” said Williams. “Cause they had a lot of drivers, so we just wanted to shrink the court and keep our man in front of us. We did that a lot in practice.”

Despite the large lead, ASU still struggled from the three-point line, shooting just 2-10 from that distance. The team is shooting just 33.3% from there on the season, and that number is even higher than it should be due to an outlier game against San Diego, where they shot 14-22 from long range.

However, coach Miller does not seem to be worried about the early struggles, “I look at our players, and Gabby can hit a three, Marley can hit a three, Amaya can hit a three. So it’s going to be in the beginning a little hit and miss, but our wings out there, I have confidence that they can shoot, and they’ve put in their work, their work will show up,” said Miller.

Next, the Sun Devils will play host to Southeast Missouri State on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. local time, where they will look to start 8-0 for the first time in over 30 years.