For the second straight year the ASU women’s basketball team was upset by Washington State at home, this time by a score of 70-65.
One of the largest crowds this season wasn’t able to help the Sun Devils (11-5, 3-3 Pac-10) overcome a slew of mistakes during a frantic game that saw the Cougars (5-14, 3-4) shoot an impressive 64.7 percent from the three-point line.
ASU redshirt senior guard Dymond Simon led all scorers with 19 points and added three assists, while senior guard Tenaya Watson added 14 points and five assists.
“It’s a total disappointment, to our team, to our coaches.” Simon said. “They just got the best of us tonight, and we cannot allow that to happen again.”
Last season WSU broke an 11-game losing streak against ASU in Tempe, winning by a similar scoreline, 66-62.
Redshirt freshman guard Ireti Amojo and junior guard Jazmine Perkins both had 16 points for the Cougars. They each went 4-6 from the three-point line and seemed to knock down a three every time ASU came within striking distance.
“That’s a lot of pressure on your defense, when a team is shooting out of their minds,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “They really hit almost every open look that they took, and you’ve got to credit them for that.
The intensity of the WSU squad was something the Sun Devils should have matched, Turner Thorne said.
“Washington State deserved to win,” she said. “They played harder than we did. And that’s really hard for me to say as a coach, because with all the passion I have for this game that I love, to have my team go out there and not play harder than the other team is just really hard.”
The first half started slow, and ASU held a few early leads. But the Sun Devils looked flustered, missed several layups in transition and were called for traveling numerous times.
ASU shot just 38.5 percent from the field in the first half.
“A lot of things didn’t fall for us tonight,” Simon said. “We kind of let that affect us. We didn’t really pick it up on the defensive end like we normally do and we needed to today.”
On the other side of the ball, WSU hit all four of its three-pointers in the first half and had a nine-point lead with 29 seconds left in the period. Two quick shots, including a three from Simon, brought the Sun Devils to within four at the half.
ASU came out with more intensity in the second half, but the Cougars’ shooting never cooled down. Sloppy mistakes on offense eventually doomed the Sun Devils. After a final 3-pointer from Perkins, ASU was forced to start fouling and never recovered.
Watson said afterward that there wasn’t anything WSU did that the Sun Devils weren’t expecting.
“We just need to work harder and come prepared,” Watson said.
Another major factor in the game was the strength of the WSU zone defense, which forced the Sun Devils into hurried shots and kept open looks around the perimeter to a minimum. ASU wasn’t able to adapt, Watson said.
“We just need to hit our shots and hit the middle of the key,” Watson said. “The middle of the key was wide open; we were just rushing when we needed to calm down.”
On Saturday the Sun Devils face a Washington team that has played better than the Cougars have so far this season and will undoubtedly be just as dangerous.
“UW is a very good team on Saturday, and as tough as this loss is, we definitely have to just forget about it and just prepare for Saturday,” Simon said.
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
