Senior guard Promise Amukamara drives to the basket in a game against Middle Tennessee, Friday. Nov. 14, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils defeated the Blue Raiders 81-67. (Photo by Ben Moffat)A strong second half pushed the ASU women's basketball team to a convincing 67-52 victory over Cal.
“We just took away their transition, we took care of the basketball better in the second half and we rebounded with them,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said in a radio interview with 1060 AM.
Sophomore center Quinn Dornstauder was a large piece of the game. She scored 11 points off the bench in the first half and brought down a pair of boards.
“Quinn just continues her instant offense off the bench,” Turner Thorne said.
Dornstauder also drew two fouls in the first half against star Cal senior forward Reshanda Gray. Gray played only eight minutes in the half due to foul trouble.
The foul trouble haunted her in the second half as well. She played just 12 minutes that half, picking up her fourth foul with about 11 minutes remaining in the game and when she re-entered she was forced to be careful to avoid fouling out. It took until the final minute of the game for Gray to foul out, but the impact had been done. ASU took advantage of the situation.
In limited minutes, Gray’s offensive production was superb. She scored 17 points and didn’t miss a single shot from the field.
The Golden Bears were feeding her low and trying to work the post. ASU adjusted though, and after a timeout with about eight minutes remaining in the first half, held Cal to just five points in the rest of it.
“Our interior defense is so much better,” Turner Thorne said. “We’ve just been working so much harder this year to separate ourselves with our defense.”
The defense once again won ASU the game — the Sun Devils held Cal, a team that averages more than 76 points per game, to 52. Senior guard Promise Amukamara was once again the key. She held senior guard Brittany Boyd to seven points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Amukamara played a season-high 37 minutes.
“Boy, how about Promise,” Turner Thorne said without being prompted. “Could she be stepping up any bigger for us as a senior?”
Defense is where she stands out, but Amukamara was extremely effective on the offensive side of the ball too. She made both her 3-pointers and went 8-for-12 overall from the field to pour in 20 points. She also brought down eight rebounds.
Rebounding was a key. ASU out-rebounded Cal by 11.
“That’s the game, right there, was just the possessions and make sure we didn’t give them their run-outs with their defense,” Turner Thorne said.
This helped the offense flow better, creating looks for more than the typical scorers. Dornstauder caught on fire in the first half, and Turner Thorne called it a “team win.”
ASU “wore them down” and forced Cal to sputter to a stop before the game was over; the Golden Bears scored one point in the final 6:03.
"They didn’t really have a good run in them, that last four minutes, and I was a little surprised,” Turner Thorne said. We didn’t see the press. They were exhausted and that’s credit to our team because we were working really hard.”
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
