Ekmark and Ibis power Sun Devils to rivalry win
The Arizona State women’s basketball team was not short on motivation when it was time time prepare for its latest Pac-12 foe.
It was in-state nemesis Arizona providing the opposition which in itself is enough. Not to mention the fact that the Sun Devils played arguably their worst game of the season when the teams played in Tucson to start Pac-12 play.
It was the No. 21 Sun Devils getting of a bit of redemption and registering a 6047 victory in front of 3,686 on Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena. The win avenged a 51-39 loss from Dec. 30 in which they shot just 23 percent, includ-
ing 4-for-23 from long distance,
The importance of reclaiming bragging rights in the rivalry was not lost on veteran coach Coach Charli Turner Thorne.
“That is huge because it is part of your legacy,” she said of her three seniors. “It’s the postseason, yes, but also how did you do against U of A.”
Turner Thorne had Briann January, in her second year as an assistant coach, talk to the team this week about the rivalry game. January hadn’t lost to the Wildcats as a player or a coach until that game in December. The Sun Devils beat their arch rival three times last season, including in the conference tournament.
Not surprisingly it was those seniors stepping up. Guard Courtney Ekmark tallied a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds while forward Kianna Ibis had 19 with 10 rebounds and two steals. Her first bucket of the game also boosted her over the 1,000-point plateau for her career.
Center Charnea Johnson-Chapman had nine rebounds which contributed to a 44-28 ASU advantage on boards.
“They got one on us before and it motivated us even more to come out and restore order,” Ekmark said. “We didn’t want to let that happen again.”
Turner Thorne was most pleased with her team’s defensive effort. The Sun Devils came in ranked second in the conference in scoring defense (58.2 ppg) and sixth in field goal percentage defense (.398).
The Sun Devils never trailed and took a 25-13 lead into the locker room at halftime. It was the fewest points the squad has allowed in a first half this season and tied for the fewest in either half. The Wildcats shot just 20 percent (5 for 20) in the half and had 13 turnovers.
Arizona (14-7, 4-6) ended up shooting 34.9 (15 for 43) for the game. Aari McDonald had 28 points but 11 of those came from the line and she was 8 of 22 from the field. No other Wildcat managed more than five. McDonald, the second-leading scorer in the country, also had a team-high nine rebounds and three steals in her 37 minutes.
“I was most pleased with our defense and rebounding,” Turner Thorne said. “I would have liked to come out and put them away a little earlier but that’s hard to do, especially against a big rival. We knew they weren’t going to go away.”
The Wildcats closed the gap to four points when Bryce Nixon nailed a threepointer at the buzzer to make make it 3935. But Ibis got loose inside for an easy bucket, then converted a three-point play the next trip floor to put the lead back to 44-35.
Arizona was not in striking distance again.
“We did a much better job playing together on defense,” Johnson-Chapman said, comparing this outing to the one in December. “Our connectivity was better.”
Next up for ASU is a road trip which will consist of a game at Washington State on Thursday and one at Washington on Saturday.