Sunday’s day off in the Bahamas wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as it could have been for the ASU women’s basketball team.

The No. 21 Sun Devils (3-2) finished as the runners-up in the Lucaya division of the Junkanoo Jam after crushing Hofstra 80-54 Friday but then falling to Florida 65-60 in Saturday’s championship game.

“They all need to realize it does not matter if you’re playing a ranked team on their home floor or you’re playing a nonranked team on a neutral floor,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said during her postgame radio interview. “You’ve got to play hard, [and] we surely did not do that in the first half [of the UF game].”

Saturday’s game appeared to be over when the Gators (6-1) took a 61-46 lead with 5:11 to play, but a 14-2 run by the Sun Devils sliced that advantage to three with 49 seconds remaining.

Following the layup by ASU senior guard Nia Fanaika that cut UF’s lead to 63-60, however, Gator guard Sha Brooks sank two free throws to make it a five-point game with just seven seconds left.

“[It was an] unbelievable effort in the last seven to eight minutes of that game … to outplay them the way we did and work that hard,” Turner Thorne said. “There are some great lessons in this game.
Hopefully we can learn them quickly and try to make some adjustments.”

The Sun Devils scored the first four points of the game, but they would never lead after the game’s opening minutes.

A 3-pointer by Brooks capped an 8-0 run to give UF a 23-12 advantage with 12:23 to play before the break.

“Honestly, as good a job as [UF] did at hitting some shots and doing some things, really, it was more about us just getting in our own way,” Turner Thorne said.

The Sun Devils shot just 36.1 percent from the field in the game, including a season-low 32.1 percent in the first half.

“Obviously, we struggled to make shots,” Turner Thorne said. “This team has yet to realize that they still can win in those situations.”

In defeat, ASU senior guard Briann January had 16 points, nine assists and six steals. She was also named to the All-Tournament team.

Senior forward Lauren Lacey added 10 points and four rebounds for the Sun Devils, while senior center Sybil Dosty had eight points and 12 rebounds.

Brooks finished with 25 points for the Gators and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Saturday’s loss came after a dominating performance against Hofstra in Friday’s first-round game.

The Sun Devils used their defense to control the game, forcing 33 Pride turnovers that were converted into 33 ASU points.

ASU began the game on a 15-1 run and did not allow a Hofstra field goal until the 11:44 mark of the first half.

The Sun Devils led by 26 at the break, but then a 12-2 Hofstra run to start the second half cut ASU’s lead to 16 with 16:12 to play.

The Sun Devils later answered with their own 9-0 run, and a 3-pointer by junior guard Dymond Simon gave ASU its largest lead of the game of 68-37 with 8:09 remaining.

January connected on all six of her shots and all five of her free throws to score a season-high 19 points. She also added four rebounds and four assists in the game.

Simon also chipped in with 15 points, four rebounds and three steals.
ASU held Hoftra’s leading scorer, freshman center Joelle Connelly, to just five points in the game.

Reach the reporter at gina.mizell@asu.edu.