Devils sluggish in win

Turner Thorne: We let our offense affect defense; focus wasn’t there

The question really was not whether Arizona State women’s basketball would beat Longwood on Saturday, rather how the Sun Devils would look and what they would get out of their first game in 10 days.

The answers: not good, and perhaps lesson learned.

Even in building a 52-24 lead, ASU was not patient or sharp offensively. After that, over the final nine minutes, Longwood more than doubled its point total, outscoring the Sun Devils 36-29 in the second half and cutting its final deficit to 62-50.

“The whole game we let our offense affect our defense and our focus just wasn’t there,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “We had a couple of really good offensive games and we’re back to shooting off the first pass then we don’t make and we let that affect us. That was contagious through our team.”

Senior forward Janae Fulcher was the steadiest Sun Devil, scoring 15 points on 7of-10 shooting with seven rebounds and four blocks. Guards Micaela Pickens and Promise Amukamara combined for 21 points. Joy Burke (seven points/12 rebounds) and Haley Videckis (9/7) flirted with double-doubles.

ASU (7-4) won its fourth in a row but played little like the team that nearly upset No. 16 Dayton and crushed San Diego 72-39 in its previous two home games.

“If anything, it’s a good lesson to take home,” Turner Thorne said. “Hopefully we’ll be that much more motivated to work hard. This team dominated a ranked opponent for 38 minutes. You can be that good or be this bad based on our approach.”

The Sun Devils are off for five days before returning to prepare for their final nonconference game vs. Idaho State (6-4) on Dec. 30.

Longwood (3-8), a Big South team that lost 86-68 at Arizona on Thursday, trailed 33-14 at halftime, shooting just 19.2 percent in the first half.

Daeisha Brown, a 5-foot-3 freshman guard, hurt ASU with penetration in scoring a game-high 20 points. The Lancers’ leading scorer, Chelsea Coward, had 14 of her 16 points in the second half.

“We can’t afford to have lapses like that,” Fulcher said. “If we are consistent, we shouldn’t give us as many points as we did.

“We need to stick with our defense and not play scoremore basketball.”

Turner Thorne said her players worked hard during their break for finals and were not rested for Longwood in part so their conditioning would carry over during the holidays. She considered play- ing a scrimmage game during the break but opted instead for skill work.

“We’ve never played well” after nine days off, Turner Thorne said. “We just didn’t play well. We didn’t have to lose this game to take some good lessons out of it.”

Longwood Longwood Arizona St. A— 1,353. Officials — Melissa Barlow, Karen Lasuik, Mazetta Garrett.

FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS Coward 37 6-21 3-5 1-5 0 3 16 Headen 14 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Brown 31 7-12 6-9 1-5 2 2 20 Elkington 30 2-7 2-4 2-5 2 2 6 Neal 23 1-6 1-3 0-2 1 4 3 Williams 28 2-5 1-1 0-3 0 0 5 Skersick 5 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Reagan 14 0-1 0-0 2-3 2 0 0 Ali 16 0-4 0-0 2-4 0 3 0 Frazer 2 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Totals 200 18-60 13-22 8-29 7 16 50 Percentages: FG .300, FT .591. 3-point goals: 1-12, .083 (Coward 1-4, Neal 0-1, Skersick 0-1, Ali 0-1, Headen 0-2, Elkington 0-3) Team rebounds:9.Blocked shots:6 (Coward 4, Elkington, Ali). Turnovers: 17 (Brown 8, Coward 3, Neal 3, Elkington, Williams, Reagan). Steals: 10 (Elkington 3, Brown 2, Coward, Neal, Williams, Reagan, Ali). Arizona St. FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS Fulcher 23 7-10 1-2 2-7 2 3 15 Burke 22 2-9 3-5 6-12 1 0 7 Pickens 22 5-9 0-0 1-5 0 3 11 Amukamara 21 2-4 6-6 1-3 1 0 10 Thomas 19 0-4 2-4 0-2 5 1 2 Hawkins 16 0-7 0-0 0-5 1 4 0 Barrett 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Purkovic 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Davis 21 2-3 0-0 0-2 4 3 4 Blackwell 14 2-7 0-2 2-4 1 3 4 Videckis 17 4-8 1-1 3-7 1 2 9 Normen 12 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Totals 200 24-66 13-2015-47 17 20 62 Percentages: FG .367, FT .650. 3-point goals: 1-11, .091 (Pickens 1-2, Purkovic 0-1, Videckis 0-1, Burke 0-2, Normen 0-2, Hawkins 0-3). Team rebounds: 7. Team turnovers 1. Blocked shots: 6 (Fulcher 4, Burke 2). Turnovers: 19 (Normen 3, Fulcher 2, Burke 2, Thomas 2, Davis 2, Blackwell 2, Videckis 2, Pickens, Amukamara, Hawkins, Barrett). Steals: 11 (Davis 3, Pickens 2, Fulcher, Amukamara, Thomas, Hawkins, Blackwell, Videckis). 14 33 36 — 29 — 50 62