money Arizona State women's basketball unable to maintain hot start vs. Oregon
It’s been a rough start to Pac-12 play for Arizona State women’s basketball with three of its last four losses coming against ranked opponents.
Friday’s 82-62 loss to No. 18 Oregon marked the fourth-straight loss as the Ducks found another gear in the second half to move past ASU.
“I thought our team played hard today, but there were moments where we had to finish and that’s what we will continue working on," ASU head coach Natasha Adair said.
ASU showed promise in its start, taking a 10-3 lead in the game and getting to the line early. The Sun Devils relied on multiple players in the first quarter and were well-rounded with its early approach in stopping Oregon’s offense. ASU has performed well at the free throw line this season and earned six attempts with four going in for the first quarter.
"We did well, we guarded their ball screens, we guarded their zone where the openings were and limited their second chance opportunities," Adair said. "But in that second half, with any team, you can’t give them easy opportunities in transition and easy opportunities at the rim."
The second half then got away from ASU when Oregon turned on a new gear in the third quarter. The Ducks were kickstarted by forward Grace VanSlooten’s 12 points after being shut out by ASU in the first half. The Ducks smothered ASU with a 14-2 run and played stingier defense for a 27-14 scoring edge.
The Sun Devils were dealt yet another injury when starter Isadora Sousa went down at 7:23 in the first quarter. ASU’s growing injury list includes Maggie Besselink, Imogen Greenslade, Morasha Wiggins, and Jaylah Robinson.
Key moments
ASU played great defense in the first quarter and Jaddan Simmons’ block on Chance Gray’s attempt inside the paint at 5:35 was demonstrative of that.
Throughout the first half, Treasure Hunt was commanding the boards and grabbed seven defensive rebounds. ASU had 21 defensive rebounds in the first half to Oregon’s 19.
Top performers
Treasure Hunt has been steadily improving for ASU and tallied a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Hunt shot 6-of-14 with three 3-pointers.
Tyi Skinner led the offense with 20 points and four 3-pointers. Skinner has had nine games with 20 or more points this season.
Jaddan Simmons had more of a facilitating role and shared the team lead in assists with five. Simmons played great defense early on and added 10 points in the game.
They said it
“It’s definitely taken the pressure off me a lot and also I think that we’re growing as a team. We’re stepping up individually and it’s only going to make us better. She’s been in her bag lately and has been getting double-doubles and stuff, it’s only helping us.” -ASU guard Tyi Skinner on Treasure Hunt’s performance.
“We have to have a short memory in preparation for Oregon State, but we also have to learn from today and continue to build from it. As much as we don’t like the outcome, there are things we can take from this game in order to improve to be better in our next game. If it’s just the matter of eliminating the lull and that focus coming out of the third and making sure that we identify at this moment of the game it’s happening, change that focus. That’s what we will do.” -Adair on turning the page to Sunday.
Up next
The Sun Devils will continue its homestand at Desert Financial Arena on Sunday with Oregon State at 11 a.m. Following that game, ASU will be at No. 8 Utah and Colorado on Friday and Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU women's basketball unable to close out vs. Oregon
