ASU women's basketball picked up a key win and had a tough loss during their trip through the bay area. The Sun Devils beat California Friday night 54-45, but fell to No. 10 Stanford, 66-56, Sunday afternoon.
ASU finishes strong to sweep Golden Bears
With just 7:50 remaining in the final quarter of Friday's game, Cal lead 40-38 until the Sun Devils received key plays from the upperclassmen to seal the win.
Senior forward Quinn Dornstauder made a pivotal basket to put her team up 42-40 after fighting her way through the lane.
Dornstauder just keeps coming through.@Pac12Network https://t.co/PrhjbZEjXd
— Sun Devil WBB (@SunDevilWBB) January 21, 2017
Two minutes later, fellow senior forward Sophie Brunner drilled a three to put ASU up 45-42. The Sun Devils didn't look back from there – they finished the game on a 12-3 run to put the Golden Bears away.
ASU lost senior Kelsey Moos to a foot injury in their second conference game against Cal and was once again missing this weekend for the Sun Devils.
Leading the way in Friday's rematch were Brunner and freshman guard Robbi Ryan with 14 points each. Brunner added 10 rebounds, while Dornstauder had 12 points and eight boards.
Stanford runs away in second half to down ASU
In what could have been a marquee victory in the competitive Pac-12 to propel the Sun Devils into the nation's highly-coveted top 16, ASU fell short as the Cardinal dominated the third quarter to hand them their third conference loss.
The Sun Devils trailed by three in the second quarter, but a 11-4 run put Stanford up 30-19 at the half. After ASU was able to cut the lead to nine, the Cardinal went on a 17-4 tear to lead by a convincing 20 points by the 1:31 mark.
"They obviously kind of punched us in the face and we didn't punch back," head coach Charli Turner Thorne said in a postgame interview with NBC's Sun Devil Radio. "We were really soft and caught off guard by it."
The Sun Devils cut the Stanford lead to as few as 10 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough to mount any sort of comeback.
"I liked our second half, we were more relentless, we played together," Turner Thorne added.
Brunner led ASU once again – which had seven unique scorers – tallying a game-high 21 points and nine boards for nearly another double-double. Reili Richardson, one of the team's top scorers, shot a surprising 0-of-7 from the field after a having a solid performance against Cal.
"Sophie Brunner played her heart out, did about what she could do," Turner Thorne said. "Other than that, I think everybody agreed they just didn't bring it."
As for Stanford, standout senior Erica McCall finished with a team-high 18 points.
"I'm excited, I hope we don't, for the seniors' sake, wait until next year (to grow)," Turner Thorne said. "Maybe we'll get to play this team again in the conference tournament."
ASU will be back in the state of California for two more road tests next weekend – visiting No. 13 UCLA Friday at 9 p.m. before heading to USC Sunday at 4 p.m.
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Reach the reporter at jeff.griffith21@asu.edu or follow @Jeff_Griffith21 on Twitter.
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