The ASU women’s basketball team beat Saint Mary’s to improve to 3-0,
For a half Monday, Arizona State women’s basketball showed what’s possible on offense.
The Sun Devils put up 41 points on 54.2% shooting against Saint Mary’s in the concluding game of the Global Sports & Events Tip-off at Desert Financial Arena.
Though the second half — 21 points, 25 percent shooting —was more like the first two games, ASU won again, 62-53, improving to 3-0 for the first time in three seasons.
The Sun Devils trailed for only 42 seconds in three games against quality opponents, two (Stephen F. Austin and VCU) projected to win their conference and make the NCAA Tournament. Even with their roster turnover from last season and offensive struggles, they showed signs of being able to compete in the powerful Pac-12 starting Friday.
“The way we started, I thought we were going to have two halves of offense today,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I do think our offense was a lot better today. We just kind of missed in the second half.
“This tournament was so great for us. Those are three teams that are perennial winning programs, top third of their conference. It was really good for us to get these wins under our belt going into Pac-12. I’m really proud of our team.”
ASU 20 points off turnovers in first half
Saint Mary’s committed 12 first-half turnovers, leading to 20 ASU points and a 41-29 Sun Devils halftime lead.
Freshmen Jaddan Simmons and Katelyn Levings combined for 15 firsthalf points with senior Bre’yanna Sanders adding seven.
Sanders had two first-half steals out of ASU’s eight total. Iris Mbulito had a behind-the-back feed to Simmons for an early basket, setting a tone for better movement and pushing the ball off turnovers.
The Sun Devils finished with 25 points off 23 turnovers, a problem for the Gaels (0-3) in three losses by 10 points or less (76 combined turnovers).
ASU had 15 steals each by seven players.
“Saint Mary’s is a good offensive team,” Sanders said. “Focusing and listening to what Charli was saying was the key.”
Guard Sydnei Caldwell said, “Our offense will come. If we keep doing what we’re doing, the shots will fall. When we play defense, the rest will take care of itself.”
The Sun Devils also had a 30-29 edge in rebounding against a team that dominated on the boards in its first two games.
including two
Relying on balanced scoring
ASU had no players in double-figure scoring but seven scored between 7-9 points.
Taya Hanson, just 2-of-14 shooting, Eboni Walker, Caldwell and Sanders all had nine, Simmons eight and Levings seven.
“We had a number of games like that last year,” Turner Thorne said. “It’s absolutely that kind of team this year. Obviously we’re going to have goto players and people we’re going to lean on a little bit, but right now we’re trying to build that so we don’t have somebody out there that nobody’s guarding. We have that now, and that showed today.”
Saint Mary’s played a sagging zone in the second half that ASU failed to capitalize on from the perimeter. But the Sun Devils forced the Gaels into that defense with their quickness and aggressiveness in the first half.
“We ran well in the first half and had good ball movement,” Turner Thorne said. “We had shorter drives with better on-ball action. We’re just starting to figure out our offense honestly, transition-wise and in the half court. I thought we were more intentional getting what we can get instead of trying to drive into areas where there’s no lanes. We just made better decisions.”
Jayde Van Hyfte out for season
Turner Thorne said Jayde Van Hyfte, ASU’s only returning starter, needs more knee surgery and will miss the rest of the season. The 6-1 junior only played in the season opener.