In what has been a common occurrence in conference play, the ASU’s women’s basketball team was stagnant on offense.
But against No. 11 UCLA, the Sun Devils (12-6, 4-4 Pac-10) were unable to pick up the slack defensively, and the Bruins (17-2, 7-1) were able to cruise to a 70-60 victory on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
“The offensive woes continue,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said during a radio interview after the game. “You dig yourself a hole with that first half, 18 points, and that’s tough to overcome.”
Redshirt senior guard Dymond Simon had 20 points to lead the Sun Devils, but she was the only real scoring threat for ASU on offense.
Freshman guard Adrianne Thomas did a good job getting into the lane and spreading the UCLA defense but only had seven points, all off free throws.
“It’s just lack of movement, lack of energy on offense,” Simon said. “I think we did pretty well on the defensive end, but we definitely have to convert that to the other end of the court. Definitely a focus factor involved. People definitely have to have the confidence and definitely need to start hitting some shots.”
On the other side of the ball, the Bruins had three players in double digits. Senior guard Darxia Morris led all scorers with 21 points and two assists, despite only playing 23 minutes.
The core problem for ASU all game was getting the shots to fall. The Sun Devils shot just 34 percent from the field but actually had more points off turnovers and outrebounded UCLA 32-21.
However, Turner Thorne said all the missed shots contributed to the rebound total, and with the Bruins shooting 53.3 percent, the score quickly turned into a deficit ASU couldn’t overcome.
A very sloppy first half for both teams was tied at seven at the six-minute mark. That was as close to leading as the Sun Devils would get, and UCLA rode a 10-0 run to jump out to a 17-7 lead.
ASU would close the deficit to within five mid-way through the period, but were down 30-18 at halftime. The Sun Devils also shot just 25 percent in the first half, which was frustrating for a team that expects to shoot well, redshirt sophomore forward Janae Fulcher said.
“We shoot over 80 percent in practice, whenever we’re shooting,” Fulcher said. “I think it’s just our shot selection and where we’re taking our shots from the floor, because just getting closer to the basket would be ideal for us.
“Sooner or later, they have to fall.”
The second half didn’t start much better, and the Bruins used some slick passing inside to build their lead to 21. Turner Thorne had the Sun Devils switch from man-to-man to zone defense, a look that hadn’t been seen all year.
It seemed to work, however, and for a few minutes UCLA had trouble adjusting, allowing the Sun Devils to pull within 13 points, which was the point of the switch, Simon said.
“I think we did a pretty good job in the zone, with the two days we had to work on it” Simon said. “We definitely got some key steals down the stretch in that zone, and as long as we keep working on it, I think we’ll be just fine.”
Eventually, the Bruins settled and just traded baskets with ASU until the final whistle. This happened despite the improvement the Sun Devil offense showed toward the end of the game, which was disappointing, Turner Thorne said.
“This team is frustrated,” Turner Thorne said. “They know they’re better than that. I think they really expect to win every game. We did try a little different stuff on the defensive end, and I thought it worked at times, but wasn’t wholeheartedly successful.”
On a positive note, Thursday’s game saw the return of junior guard Olivia Major, who missed the last two games due to injury.
The Sun Devils now look ahead to Saturday’s matchup against USC. They will need to do a better job on the boards, Turner Thorne said.
“Rebounding is huge, and it’s going to be probably a bigger factor in the USC game,” Turner Thorne said. “I really hope that we can build on this rebounding effort, because I think if we can really control the boards on Saturday, we can hopefully come off this road trip with a split.”
On the offensive side of the ball, Simon said the Sun Devils just need to keep attacking the rim.
“We definitely have to try to get the ball to our bigs a little bit more, the guards need to get to the basket a little bit more, and hopefully everything else falls in place,” Simon said.
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
