Sun Devils use fast start to lift themselves over Montana State

(Photo via Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)

TEMPE — Friday night, ASU women’s Basketball set out to continue its hot start to the 2023-24 season against Montana State at Desert Financial Arena.

Similarly to Monday’s season-opener against UTSA, the Sun Devils (2-0) built a lead early, and despite several runs from the Bobcats (0-2), they maintained it all the way through to the final buzzer to earn the 75-62 victory.

“I thought we came out of the locker room ready today,” ASU head coach Natasha Adair said. “We had really good scout prep. The players were focused at shootaround. … Players are filling up the stat sheet from a defensive intensity. We got our 40-plus rebounds. … We had 40 paint points, and these are goals that we write on the board, and they really work hard to try to make it happen.”

The Sun Devils started fast, using a full-court press to challenge the Bobcats out of the gates. On the offensive end, ASU channeled the ball down low and finished the first quarter with 20 points in the paint. Going 12-for-20 from the field, the Sun Devils finished the first frame with 30 points and a double-digit lead.

The phenomenal start was spearheaded by sophomore guard Jalyn Brown and sophomore forward Kadidia Toure, who combined for 18 points in the first 10 minutes. Toure finished with a team-high 17 points on 8-for-13 shooting and seven rebounds.

“(Toure’s) worked hard for this,” Adair said. “She was ready for the moment. This is what we see every day in practice, where she’s just that matchup nightmare. She can take you on the perimeter. She can score inside, and so when her names was called, she was ready.”

In addition to Toure and Brown, senior guard Jaddan Simmons and sophomore forward Journey Thompson also finished in double figures, with 17 and 13 points, respectively.

Friday night’s game was won, not only by stellar performances from the starters, but also sparks of energy coming off the bench provided by senior guard Treasure Hunt and Thompson. Thompson led the Sun Devils in rebounds with 12, while Hunt finished with nine points and five rebounds that frequently came in key moments.

“We had 22 bench points tonight, so to be able to bring that spark off the bench, it really doesn’t matter, and we don’t look at it as starters versus bench players,” Adair said. “We look at it as next woman up and then matchups. I talked to (Hunt) yesterday before the game. I said, ‘It’s going to be a matchup nightmare for them because you can post up their guards, so Treasure be ready.’”

Despite the strong start to the game, the Sun Devils didn’t carry that same fire with them into the second half. In the third quarter they were outscored 25-15 and saw their lead dip below double digits on multiple occasions.

Nonetheless, ASU was able to counter Montana State’s runs with a few brief ones of its own to secure the victory.

“Montana State, that’s a championship team,” Adair said. “They were regular season champions a year ago, and so we told the team that they’re not going to quit. They just took Big 12 (Conference) foe BYU, it was down to the wire, so we knew that they were going to come in and compete, and when we called the timeout, (we said), ‘That’s their last run. They made their run. Now, we need to finish.’”

Despite the scares, ASU held on for the win. The Sun Devils will play one more game at home on Monday before testing their talents on the road at Grambling State on Thursday. Through the early part of the season, Adair has focused on continuing to build chemistry among her team and challenging them to play solid for a full 40 minutes.

“We’re getting close,” Adair said. “There’s things we’ll, obviously, go back, look at the film and grow from, but this is a group that it doesn’t matter. … We could bring half of the team in here today because it’s a group effort, and we tell them, ‘It doesn’t matter who.’ It could be a different person each night, as long as we do it together, so I love what we’re creating. I love how hard the players are working, and we’re 2-0.”