The ASU women's basketball team may only sit a game above .500 right now, but coach Charli Turner Thorne said she does not regret the decision to schedule tough non-conference opponents.
"We're definitely not shying away from anybody," she said. "We felt very confident that this team could be really special, so we loaded up and said, 'Let's go ahead and find out what we're made of.'
"This preseason is absolutely preparing us for what's going to be another incredibly competitive Pac-10 season that will then prepare us for the postseason."
The No. 14 Sun Devils (3-2) are coming off a 1-1 showing at the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico where they lost to No. 10 Oklahoma, 69-57, and notched a come-from-behind victory against Iowa, 60-58.
The Sooners' (2-2) inside game controlled the paint and out-rebounded the Sun Devils 46-21 in last Thursday's game, and junior forward/center Lauren Lacey said that is one area that still needs to be improved.
"The Oklahoma game proved to us that we need to play defense and we need to rebound or we're going to get beat by all the top teams in the country," she said. "That was a big wake up call. It's 'hit or be hit.' "
In the Sun Devils' two losses, they were out-rebounded, 96-60.
Despite the double-digit losses to North Carolina and Oklahoma so far this season, Turner Thorne said the Sun Devils came away from Cancun encouraged that they can start to beat the other elite teams in the country if they play sharply for the entire game.
"While I definitely know (North Carolina and Oklahoma) are better than us right now and they just flat out beat us, but (if we just) box a little bit better, be a little bit more consistent, play (our) defense, (we're) right there," she said.
Turner Thorne said she has been telling her team to not just focus on what the Sun Devils did wrong in their losses, but to also look at what the Tar Heels and Sooners do well and learn from it.
The Sun Devils certainly did that against Iowa (4-1) as the inside duo of Lacey and junior center Sybil Dosty accounted for 31 of the Sun Devils' 60 points.
"I really do hope we have that great 1-2 punch because that's what we need," Lacey said. "Our guards are doing great on the outside scoring and hitting shots, and we need that inside game to step in and score."
The Sun Devils also out-rebounded the Hawkeyes 20-17 in the game, which meant the team did not have to do running drills during Monday's practice.
"We needed (to out-rebound them) or else yesterday's practice would have strictly been running, which would have been horrible," junior guard Briann January said.
January added the experience of playing in a game that came down to the final seconds was a huge benefit this early in the season.
"We dealt with a lot of things in that game," she said. "We overcame some obstacles and pulled out the win, and that was huge for our team."
The Sun Devils will host the ASU Classic at Wells Fargo Arena this weekend and will tip-off against Gonzaga tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Other teams in the tournament include No. 18 Auburn and UC-Riverside.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
