(Photo credit: Maya Diaz/WCSN)
TEMPE — Down two points with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Arizona State graduate guard Jazion Jackson stole a Cincinnati Bearcats possession at midcourt and drove down the hardwood before swinging a pass to junior guard Jalyn Brown under the basket.
When Brown missed the layup, Jackson crashed the boards to secure the rebound, drawing a Cincinnati foul in the process with 22 seconds on the game clock. As the Sun Devils were in the bonus, Jackson headed to the free throw line with the opportunity to tie the game. She missed both shots, and the Bearcats pulled in the board on her second attempt and outlasted the Sun Devils’ final efforts to foul and tie the game.
Jackson’s sequence was just one part of a larger fourth-quarter trend for Arizona State, namely a four-minute scoring drought that allowed Cincinnati to rally back and take the road victory.
“I just thought [there were] key moments where the ball didn’t fall or key possessions [where] maybe we didn’t get that rebound, second chance opportunity,” Arizona State head coach Natasha Adair said. “There were just key possessions where we might have put them on the [free throw] line, or we probably rushed a little bit on offense, maybe we bring it out and execute a little better.”
Despite having an 11-point lead with 22 seconds left in the third quarter, Arizona State women’s basketball (8-13, 2-7 Big 12 Conference) ultimately lost 73-66 on Saturday to a Cincinnati Bearcats (12-6, 4-4 Big 12 Conference) team that capitalized on mistakes and faced little offensive pressure down the stretch.
In the final 10 minutes of regulation, Arizona State turned the ball over eight times, which Cincinnati converted into nine points at the other end of the court. The Bearcats were also more efficient at scoring second-chance buckets, turning two offensive rebounds into five points compared to two points on four boards for the Sun Devils.
Additionally, Arizona State gifted Cincinnati ample trips to the free throw line in the final quarter of Saturday’s contest. The Sun Devils were called for 15 personal fouls, which the Bearcats turned into 14 points on 17 free throw attempts, half of the teams 28 points from the line on the evening.
With career points leader Kym Hampton in attendance for Alumni Night, the Sun Devils seemed to turn a corner offensively in the third quarter. Arizona State moved the ball more effectively than it had earlier in the game, in part because of graduate guard Tyi Skinner.
Skinner, who did not start in Saturday’s game, forced the Bearcats to commit defenders to her by collecting seven points on 100% shooting from the field in the third. The Washington D.C. native’s presence helped the Sun Devils shoot 63% from the field, their best mark in one quarter on Saturday.
As Arizona State moved into the fourth quarter, its offensive momentum faded. ASU made just 4-of-16 shots in the game’s final 10 minutes. Even Brown, who had a team-high 25 points and nine rebounds, struggled to finish at the basket against a firm Cincinnati defense. The Devils found no reprieve shooting beyond the arc, hitting just 1-of-3 deep shots in the fourth despite going 7-of-14 on the night.
Acknowledging the tough loss, Adair noted after the game that her Arizona State team will learn from Saturday’s game and continue to attack its remaining Big 12 Conference schedule.
“We have to learn from this stuff, and we will. It’s a locker room that is not satisfied with the outcome,” Adair said. “It’s a locker room that is still competing and is still fighting knowing that there’s a lot of Big 12 games to play. But these are just teachable moments where we have to go back and continue to learn and grow to put 40 full minutes together.”
