(Photo credit: Maya Diaz/WCSN)
TEMPE — With two seconds remaining in the second quarter and Arizona State women’s basketball trailing against No. 16 West Virginia, graduate guard Tyi Skinner took a deep breath and stepped up to the free throw line.
The Sun Devils’ veteran leader and leading scorer sunk her first free throw, cutting the Mountaineers’ lead to 13, where it would remain for the rest of the first half. As ASU headed to the locker room, head coach Natasha Adair walked side by side with Skinner, offering her starting point guard words of encouragement after a tough first half defined by constant West Virginia ball pressure and an inconsistent shooting performance from the Sun Devils.
Still, despite trailing by as many as 21 points midway through the first half, ASU showed signs of fight, outscoring the Mountaineers 14-8 in the second quarter, and headed into the locker room with momentum and a chance to potentially shift the pressure onto West Virginia with a strong start to the third period.
The Sun Devils emerged from the locker room and did the opposite.
A quick layup from Mountaineer junior guard Sydney Shaw off a turnover from graduate guard Jazion Jackson, followed by two free throws and a three from graduate center Kylee Blacksten sparked a West Virginia run that pushed the lead back up to 20 in less than four minutes.
The Mountaineers’ (16-3, 6-2 Big 12) hot start to the third quarter set the table for a dominant second half, with the West Virginia defense forcing 11 ASU turnovers and holding the Sun Devils (8-12, 2-6 Big 12) to just 13 points in the paint en route to an 89-59 ASU defeat, its fifth in a row.
“We just have to start the third better,” Adair said postgame. “We weren’t in a flow, I thought we were just dribbling the air out of the basketball instead of moving it up the court.”
ASU only faced such an uphill battle after halftime because of a 28-9 first quarter that saw the Sun Devils outplayed on both ends of the floor. Junior guard Jordan Harrison challenged ASU’s pick-and-roll defense early and often, picking up five assists in the first period while punishing the Sun Devils for poor backline communication and help-side rotation.
Harrison toyed with the ASU frontcourt on switches, placing perfect pocket passes to rollers or rising up and sinking easy floaters. On the other end, West Virginia hounded Sun Devil ballhandlers up and down the court relentlessly, turning ASU over six times in the first ten minutes.
Despite the deficit, the Sun Devils battled back in the second, turning the ball over just two times and finding their offensive groove against a frenzied Mountaineer defense.
Adair credited the shift to a change in pace and patience.
“We started pushing the ball more in transition,” Adair said. “And we had poise versus their pressure. We got the ball around, we weren’t making high-risk plays or high-risk passes.”
Despite the strong effort in the second quarter, the bottom fell out defensively in the second half. ASU struggled to stop any form of West Virginia offense and the Mountaineers had their way, shooting 54% from the field and scoring 53 points, their highest mark in a half yet in Big 12 play.
West Virginia dizzied the ASU defense with a flurry of backdoor cuts and the same communication problems that led to the blowout first quarter came back to haunt the Sun Devils again. The turnovers, too, mounted for ASU and the Mountaineers took advantage, outscoring the Sun Devils 15-1 in points off turnovers in the second half.
While offense was a struggle for most of the night, especially in the second half, ASU did find limited success from deep. Despite not making a shot from beyond the arc until late in the third, the Sun Devils finished the game 5-for-11 from 3-point land. Adair credited the low number of attempts to the game plan.
“It was just take what they give you,” Adair said. “They play a matchup zone, and we said we didn’t want to just settle from three.”
The Sun Devils will have another chance to snap their losing streak Saturday when the Cincinnati Bearcats make the trip to Tempe. This will be ASU’s chance to put on a show for their home crowd before hitting the road for three of its next four games.
