The ASU women’s basketball team led by as much as 17 points in the first half against Oregon.
Then the Sun Devils found themselves down by as much as six in the second.
But two huge baskets by junior forward Kimberly Brandon with less than three minutes left were enough to give ASU the lead for good, and the Sun Devils (18-9, 10-7 Pac-10) were able to escape Eugene with a 75-66 win over the Ducks (13-15, 4-13) on Thursday night.
“It was a very fast paced-game,” redshirt senior Dymond Simon said. “They got a couple of runs on us there down the stretch, but you know, we finally locked in on them on defense and got some key stops.”
Brandon led all scorers with 20 points and eight rebounds, and Simon added 17. Senior Becca Tobin put in some key baskets to keep ASU from going cold and finished with 15 herself.
“My coach was just telling me to look for my shot and just keep shooting, and they would fall, hopefully,” Brandon said.
The Ducks were without leading scorer redshirt junior guard Mia Jackson for the seventh straight game, but had no shortage of hot shooters on Thursday.
Junior forward Amanda Johnson had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the team in both categories.
The Ducks actually outrebounded ASU 34-28, but UO turned the ball over 24 times, which was too much for the Ducks to overcome.
“With a transition team like Oregon, they’re bound to turn the ball over,” Simon said. “I think we definitely got our turnovers for this team tonight, and I think our coaches are really proud of us.”
Freshman guard Ariel Thomas added 18 points and senior guard Kristi Fallin put in 13 for the Ducks.
The Sun Devils started the game with a full head of steam, and raced to a 25-8 lead on a 3-pointer by junior guard Alex Earl with 7:20 left in the first half.
A small run by the Ducks cut the lead to 11 at halftime, but it still appeared as though the Sun Devils had the game well under control.
In the second half, however, the Ducks came roaring back on a series of threes from Johnson and Fallin.
ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne, however, looked a lot closer at her team’s performance on offense during the comeback.
“We are literally getting in the game and acting like we have no idea how to run our zone offense,” Turner Thorne said in a radio interview. “I felt like we just stood around, held the ball, and took way, way, way, way too many threes.”
The Sun Devils finished 7-for-25 from the 3-point line on the night.
An 8-0 run gave the Ducks a six-point lead with 7:13 left, but that was the end of the comeback for UO, and Turner Thorne credited the Sun Devils for sticking to their guns.
“These types of wins are great to get in March,” Turner Thorne said. “We found ways to score, we did attack a little bit, got second shots, got some penetration. We’re really going to have to regroup and get ready for Oregon State.”
Reach the reporter at egrasser@asu.edu
