Sophomore forward Sophie Brunner falls to the ground under an Ohio defender in the first round of the NCAA women's tournament on Saturday, March 21, 2015, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils defeated the Bobcats 74-55. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)
As a team that plays fast, the ASU women's basketball team is used to scoring early and often.
After not playing for two weeks, however, the Sun Devils got off to a relatively slow start, trailing 8-6 at the first media timeout.
With just under five minutes gone in the first half, the teams retreated to their respective benches or the first media timeout of the game.
Redshirt junior guard Katie Hempen, who notched a career-high 23 points in the 74-55 win, said that the first portion was sort of a feeling-out portion for the Sun Devils as they got back to game speed.
"We were just taking our time, like 'what are they doing,'" Hempen said. "Are we doing what we prepared for them to do?' And we just evened out in that first huddle. Our coaches do great about what we should do. We were mobilized after coming out of the first huddle."
Immediately following the break, a steal by senior guard Promise Amukamara ignited a run for the Sun Devils that turned great defense into efficient offense.
Coach Charli Turner Thorne said that the main thing that allowed her team to break free was the action on the defensive end.
"Our defense," Turner Thorne said. "Our defense is just like we just said. If we're getting soft, I think our shooting was better, our efficiency was better, so I think great defense."
ASU ended up scoring 13 straight points and the run ended at 16-2 in 4:07. During that stretch, seven of the Sun Devils's points came off of free throws, something that would become a trend as the night wore on.
In the second half, Ohio cut the ASU lead to 13 points with a pair of free throws at the 15:32 mark of the second half. From there, the Sun Devils put the pedal to the metal and went on a 19-3 run to ice the game.
Turner Thorne said that fast breaks and open lanes are a big part of her team's offense. Despite having just six fast break points, ASU set up more that were achieved at the foul line by pushing the tempo.
"We like to play fast, and not just in the full court, but in the half court," Turner Thorne said. "If we can get out and run a little bit -- our goal is -- they're a tough team, and they're going to play hard, we want to outwork teams. We took advantage when they got tired and we put our foot on the gas, and this team is pretty good at that."
Despite the two large scoring runs, ASU was outscored 15-5 in the last 9:12 of the game, finishing the game with a 19-point win.
Turner Thorne said the ending run will stick in her mind more than the two positive ones that earned the win and that it's something the team needs to work on moving forward.
"That's why I put the group in at the end," Turner Thorne said. "They were pissed, excuse my expression. These guys are the reason that we are here. They got us here. And they were very frustrated that we weren't scoring and letting the other team score, and they wanted to go back in. So I put them back in for a little bit. They weren't always doing the right thing, either, but, we got up almost 30 and we let up. And honestly in the Pac-12 it didn't happen very often. I thought we refocused well. It wasn't that we were just missing shots. Our execution was really poor and we were turning the ball over."
ASU will face Arkansas-Little Rock (ULAR) Monday night at 6 p.m. at Well's Fargo Arena in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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