Sun Devils Take Down Utes in Milestone-Making Performance

(Photo: Scott Russomano/WCSN)

TEMPE — Elite speed, fluid hip movement, route recognition, anticipation and good hands. Those are the qualities that make a good football cornerback. Those are also the qualities put on display by Arizona State women’s basketball’s defense in their Wednesday game against Utah.

With their defensive aggression on full display, the Sun Devils captured their 20th win of head coach Molly Miller’s debut season, suffocating the Utes 71-61 to complete the season sweep over their former Pac-12 foes, dropping head coach Gavin Peterson’s squad to 16-9.

“We always want to pressure,” Miller said. “Make things difficult, disrupt.”

Pressure was a major theme of the game. Not just the pressure ASU’s defense forced, but also the pressure the Sun Devils felt to win the contest.

Miller described her team as playing with their “backs against the wall” on Wednesday. With the Big 12 Tournament approaching, every game counts for the Sun Devils.

After starting 15-0, the Sun Devils have teetered around .500 in conference play. ASU is listed as one of the “last four in” for the NCAA tournament in CBS Sports’ latest Bracketology. The Sun Devils’ March Madness chances hang in the balance with each contest, with Miller’s squad likely needing to stay at .500 or better in its remaining schedule.

ASU’s Wednesday victory marked the first time the Maroon and Gold have hit the 20-win benchmark since the 2019-2020 season, when program legend Charlie Turner Thorne was the head coach.

To turn the burners up even more, Thorne was in attendance for the Sun Devils’ milestone victory. She was a part of the commentating crew on the ESPN+ broadcast, something she has done on several occasions this season for the team’s home games.

Despite the pressure of the moment, the Sun Devils stepped up and got the job done in dominant fashion.

ASU’s 54 percent from downtown was its second-best mark of the season. It was especially refreshing after 20 and 37 percent outings in its last two games. Despite the weather in Tempe being sunny and the temperature reaching nearly 80 degrees, it was raining 3-pointers inside Desert Financial Arena. 

The team shot 7-for-13 from downtown, with graduate guard Gabby Elliott netting the bulk of them. Elliott went 3-for-5 from 3-point range. She finished the night with 19 points, a game high.

“I feel like it just feeds off our defense,” Elliott said, speaking on the 3-point efficiency. “Stuff like that is just what we do. We feed off energy as a team, and we were giving a lot of energy to each other tonight.”

Elliott – just like her team – hit a major milestone against the Utes. During a timeout in the third quarter, it was announced that Elliott had secured the 500th rebound of her collegiate career.

Elliot’s team-leading scoring performance was paired with a stellar defensive performance. She grabbed five defensive rebounds and had four steals. 

ASU forced 21 Utah turnovers, scoring 16 points from the Utes’ miscues. 

On several occasions, ASU defenders would make cornerback-like plays on the ball, sprinting and sticking their arms out, stealing Utah passes and gaining possession.

Even when they weren’t scoring in transition off of steals and blocks, the Sun Devils were able to get to the free-throw line, shooting 93-percent from the charity stripe.

“Sometimes that can be the difference in the game,” she said. “We saw that at Baylor. So, going 14-for-15 is a good sign for us.”

The Sun Devils hope to keep the positive momentum on their side through the weekend, as they travel south to face rival Arizona on Saturday.

The Valentine’s Day Territorial Cup showdown streams on ESPN+ at noon MST.

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