(Photo: Elijah Longoria/WCSN)
TEMPE – For a team whose offensive identity revolves around junior McKinna Brackens and senior Gabby Elliott, an unexpected name popped off the stat sheet for Arizona State women’s basketball Wednesday night.
Forward Deborah Davenport walked into Desert Financial Arena having never cracked the double-digit points barrier and ended the game the biggest reason for the Sun Devils’ most impressive win of the year, as basketball royalty Diana Taurasi watched courtside.
ASU (19-5, 6-5 Big 12) pulled out its biggest victory of the year in a tightly contested 74-69 tussle over Oklahoma State (18-6, 7-4 Big 12) in front of a pink-out home crowd, and Davenport’s fingerprints were smudged all over the final outcome.
The redshirt junior poured in a career-high 18 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-8 shooting, ripping the net cord from beyond the arc on three separate occasions.
“This is a winner,” head coach Molly Miller said of Davenport. “This is what we want our program to be built on … The fact that she had 18 and nine, it speaks volumes but … all the intangible things that didn’t show up on this box score, is Deborah Davenport.”
Her intangibles may be difficult to quantify, but her overall impact wasn’t. In addition to the offensive excellence, Davenport’s length and positioning defensively created havoc in the paint for the Cowgirls, swatting a third of ASU’s nine blocks.
The Sun Devils’ physical interior presence visibly bothered Oklahoma State all game, holding them to a season-low 31 percent shooting from the field and 30 percent on layups that resulted in the Cowgirls going 17 points under their Big 12 leading mark of 86.
ASU’s defensive game plan involved doubling on ball-handlers and drives, requiring the helper to sprint back out to open corner shooters. Miller preached urgency in the post-game press conference, referring to both the style of defense she wants her team to play and the type of frantic effort they need to come out with every game.
“Rush them a little bit more, maybe make them a little bit more uncomfortable by being in their face sooner,” Miller said. “We said we had to have a sense of urgency this game, and I’m very proud of how they approached it.”
When the game got chaotic, senior guard Marley Washenitz was the lightning rod at the center of it all. The senior has struggled for stretches this season, and wasn’t particularly efficient today either, but made a number of key plays that swung momentum back towards the Sun Devils.
With 22 seconds left in the second quarter, Washenitz stole a pass intended for the corner and found a wide-open Last-Tear Poa for a buzzer-beating three on the left wing that sent ASU into the locker room up two.
After a scoreless first half, Washenitz had her first game with multiple shots from distance since December 31, including a huge step-back three in the fourth to stall an 8-2 Oklahoma State run.
ASU’s clutch play extended far beyond a single player, however, with Elliott and Brackens taking over down the stretch.
The Sun Devils’ two leading scorers combined for 13 in the final period, with Brackens hitting a pair of smooth bankers that kissed off the glass to end with a game-high 20 and Elliott swishing a fadeaway driving right to put ASU up six with just over a minute remaining.
With every made basket adding to the Sun Devils’ thin lead, it fittingly was a Davenport offensive rebound with 30 seconds on the clock that truly iced the game for ASU.
This win was the Maroon and Gold’s 10th game this season with a single-digit margin, but their experience earlier in the season has given them the blueprint to understanding Miller’s philosophy in critical moments.
“There’s a steadiness,” Miller said. “When we get on the same page, we’ve been here, we’ve done this, we know how to handle time and score. We know when we’re calling a timeout and advancing …So these close moments are just reflective of growth.”
At 6-5 in the Big 12 and 2-4 in their previous six heading into this matchup, overcoming an opponent like Oklahoma State that ranked 25th in RPI and received votes to be in the AP Top-25 this past week was monumental for a Sun Devils side with inconsistent results against tougher opponents, but the road only gets bumpier.
ASU’s 6-4 away record will be tested at No. 15 Baylor, where Miller’s tenure as the GCU head coach came to a close last season in a 73-60 loss, and in her first trip back to Waco, the first-year head coach will be eager to turn the tables.
“It’s got to be the same approach,” Miller said. “What’s it going to take to win this game? We’ve got to practice that and then have it carry over on the court, but then we have to just do it with a little extra fight, little extra hustle, little extra communication. We know this team needs that extra to be able to win these games.”
