Sun Devils can’t hang with No. 6 Cardinal in 80-50 blowout loss

(Photo via Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

TEMPE — ASU women’s basketball, which had just won its first Pac-12 conference game of the year, lost badly on Friday to the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal, shooting less than 29% from the floor for the third time this season.

The Sun Devils (9-11, 1-7 Pac-12) entered this game without senior forward Maggie Besselink and senior guard Treasure Hunt, two vital contributors for an ASU team looking to find its footing, and their absence was evident in the Cardinal’s (18-2, 7-1 Pac-12) dominant 80-50 win.

ASU fought early, forcing six Cardinal turnovers in the opening quarter and getting an efficient seven-point quarter from sophomore guard Jalyn Brown. Brown has been ASU’s primary source of offense as of late, coming off a 34-point performance aginst Washington.

“I just think that we came into this game prepared. I felt like we came prepared the last 2-3 days.” Brown said. “I think when the game’s going, everything’s going smoothly, and you see your shots going in, you say ‘We’re in this.’ I felt like we did a good job guarding originally.”

The Sun Devils’ competitiveness from the first quarter was short-lived, as they managed to score just six points in the second quarter while shooting an embarrassing 1-for-16 from the field. It was their lowest shooting percentage in a quarter all season.

The inside dominance of Stanford’s senior forward Cameron Brink and junior forward Kiki Iriafen was a major factor in the game’s 30-point differential. The two combined for 26 points and 22 rebounds in the first half alone, with Brink recording a double-double through 20 minutes and Iriafen just a rebound short of accomplishing the same feat. Brink finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks, while Iriafen totale 27 points and 14 rebounds. Their stellar post play helped Stanford outscore ASU 44-20 in the paint.

“I don’t know if there’s anything you can do to stop them,” head coach Natasha Adiar said. “You contain them. We could’ve stood their post play up more. They got too deep. We talked about letting them catch the ball too deep. We wanted to stop them at the hash mark … but again, you let them touch the ball in their sweet spot, they’re going to make you pay.”

Stanford continued to dominate the third quarter, scoring 20 of their 23 points in the paint and outscoring the Sun Devils, who were unable to contain the Stanford attack or find their own offensive rhythm.

Sophomore guard Trayanna Crisp and Brown were the only two players to score more than seven points in the Sun Devils’ appalling defeat, with 16 and 17, respectively, with both players outscoring each of their individual teammates in the second half alone. Crisp tacked on 14 of her points in the second-half, while Brown had nine.

“Where I’m really proud of, I’m sitting with two sophomores (in Crisp and Brown),” Adair said. “You’re talking about players (like Brink and Iriafen) who are ready to go into the WNBA draft, so when you really look at that, … they’re learning real time. They’re two of the best as well, and we’re growing in these moments.”

The Sun Devils will remain in Tempe and play host to the California Golden Bears on Sunday before traveling to Tucson to play the Arizona Wildcats again after losing to them by 39 points on Dec. 17.

With key players out of the lineup and the depth of the rotation being challenged, the Sun Devils will seek new faces to take on larger roles in the coming weeks.

“It’s next person up,” Adair said. “Things happen, and we can’t control the injuries. We can’t control what’s going on. It’s still January, and we still have a lot of basketball to play. … I know a lot of people are married to wins and losses, and that’s the ultimate goal, but as a coach, coming in every day, evaluating our growth, evaluating players stepping up in moments, I feel like all of the players are doing that.”