ASU women's basketball struggles offensively in loss to No. 15 Utah
Although it’s the final season of Pac-12 play for the Arizona State women’s basketball team, it’s a ruthless conference.
Friday’s matchup against No. 15 Utah was proof of that.
ASU struggled with consistency on offense and was shut out for long periods in the first and second halves, which led to a 58-41 loss at Desert Financial Arena on Friday.
"There were just some miscues in our defensive rotations and against a team like this where they want a layup or a 3, you have to be where you need to be," head coach Natasha Adair said. "I'm proud of how hard we fought, but there are some things where we just needed to focus and finish plays."
Facing off against a tough Utah team, the Sun Devils brought grit in its first few defensive stops. ASU contested every shot in the first few minutes, holding Utah to an open 3-pointer from Jenna Johnson. However, the Utes then brought ASU back to Earth when ASU’s offense couldn’t make its looks.
Utah broke through ASU’s defense eventually and went on an 11-0 run to finish the first quarter. The Sun Devils shot 3-for-14 (21.4%) and were 1-for-4 from the free throw line.
The first half was punctuated by several dry spells from ASU as the Sun Devils were held to seven points in each quarter. ASU’s shooting struggles bled into the second half as the Sun Devils went scoreless for 14 minutes before Jalyn Brown broke through at 6:59 in the third.
Key moments
ASU received another devastating blow to its depth when guard Trayanna Crisp took a hit to her shoulder and went down at 6:10 in the first quarter. Crisp was assessed at the bench by a trainer and came back at 3:16, but she left in less than two minutes and wore a sling on the bench for the rest of the game. Adair did not offer an update on her status after the game.
ASU played without forward Maggie Besselink, who wore a walking boot, and guards Treasure Hunt and Morasha Wiggins. Point guard Tyi Skinner has been out for the season as well with a knee injury.
Adison Novosel, who has played sparingly this season, helped ASU break a dry spell in the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Top performers
Jalyn Brown electrified the Sun Devils with two 3-pointers on a 16-3 run during the third quarter. Through Brown’s efforts, ASU made a late push against Utah as she led the Sun Devils with 21 points on 9-of-21 shooting.
They said it
"That feeling is probably the best in the world, just knowing my teammates were excited and happy. I'm obviously upset that we didn't win, but if we can bottle it up and bring it every game. I know they got my back and I got theirs." — ASU guard Adison Novosel on the bench reaction to her 3-pointers.
"Coach A emphasizes on running the floor, so for me, to understand that we need to run in transition that we can get those easy layups. A team like that didn't like to run in transition, so for that to be one of their weaknesses, we definitely had to emphasize it." — ASU guard Jalyn Brown on exposing Utah's weaknesses.
"We just got to finish. We got to the free throw line, but you got to knock them down. We got layups and we made the same amount of 3s. We just got to focus and finish around the rim. There were moments where I thought we were fading away, where we didn't come off two. But I'm looking at the shots that we did get and executing to the right shot, they just have to knock them down." — ASU head coach Natasha Adair on where the offense needs to improve.
Up next
ASU (8-6, 0-2) will host No. 5 Colorado on Sunday at noon for its final home game before going on the road for the next two weekends. The Sun Devils will face the two Oregon schools, starting with Oregon on Jan. 12, and Oregon State on Jan. 14.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU women's basketball struggles offensively in loss to No. 15 Utah
