Redshirt senior Dymond Simon has not yet been cleared to play for the Sun Devils, ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said after practice Tuesday.
Simon is showing concussion-like symptoms after exiting Saturday’s win over USC with 5:34 left in the second half.
She ran straight into a mid-court screen and went down hard, staying on the court for about a minute before being helped up and taking a seat on the bench.
Turner Thorne said that Simon is day-to-day, but once the symptoms pass she’ll likely be cleared.
Simon has not missed a game all season, but was nursing a foot injury the last time ASU played Stanford, when she was benched after a game-time decision. The Sun Devils lost at Stanford, 82-35.
Possible Replacement
Despite potentially losing their starting point guard and top scorer for Thursday’s home game against Stanford, the ASU women’s basketball team is prepared to take the court without Simon running the offense, Turner Thorne said.
Freshman guard Adrienne Thomas had a solid performance during the Sun Devils’ Jan. 27 loss to UCLA, and sophomore guard Deja Mann took over the ASU offense in the last five minutes against USC, hitting a huge 3-pointer and dishing out key assists.
Both players are ready to step up this weekend.
“Not many freshmen get the opportunity I get, so I’m just happy with every minute I get to play,” Thomas said.
Mann played point guard all through high school, and for her, the quick transition to the spot at the end of Saturday’s game wasn’t a problem.
Both players take plenty of reps at point guard in practice, and will be ready to go come Thursday, Turner Thorne said.
Hot Shooting
Going into Saturday’s game against USC, the Sun Devils had shot under 40 percent in three straight games, and the team’s main focus was to worry about the defense first, and let the offense feed off defensive stops.
That seemed to do the trick, as ASU had its best game all season in terms of shooting percentage, hitting 51.2 percent of their shots from the field.
Their best performance before that was 48.5 percent during their Jan. 2 win over Oregon.
Stepping up
Senior center Becca Tobin also came up big against USC, scoring the last six points, including the game-winning layup.
“It was a big shot for us, we needed that win,” Tobin said. “What I needed to do mostly was pull our team together and keep everyone connected and just be the leader out there.”
Tobin missed a few games earlier in the season due to illness and injury, but after Saturday’s game will likely be an important factor.
Bracketology
Although the Sun Devils are only halfway through their conference schedule, ESPN.com’s latest bracket predictions have ASU currently in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed, matched up with Vanderbilt in the first round.
The results of this upcoming weekend, especially the game against Cal on Saturday, will go a long way to ensuring the Sun Devils a spot in the Big Dance.
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
