The ASU women’s basketball team started the season the right way.
Excited fans funneled into Wells Fargo Arena to witness the first game of the season against UC Riverside. And the Sun Devils did not disappoint.
From the opening tip, the Sun Devils took control of the game. At the end of the first half the Sun Devils were up 41-20 against the Highlanders.
Coach Joseph Anders said his team couldn’t have played better than they did in the first half.
“You couldn’t have scripted (the first half) better,” Anders said. “To get out on a quality opponent, UC Riverside has always been a tough opponent for us to play, is very very pleasing.”
ASU shot 58.1 percent from the field in the first half. A reason for the offensive production was that the Sun Devils distributed the ball successfully. They totaled 12 team assists in the first half.
Redshirt senior forward Kali Bennett said the team passed the ball well.
“We are very unselfish, almost too unselfish at times,” Bennett said. “We move the ball really well. For the most part in the first half majority we got it to we needed to get it to and they finished when they needed to.”
Riverside came out of the break aggressively and started to push the Sun Devils. But ASU was able to control the Highlanders defensively holding them to a 29.2 shooting percentage for the game.
Riverside’s top scorer last year was junior guard Tre’Shonti Nottingham. ASU’s held the guard to 14 points.
Senior forward and guard Kimberly Brandon said that the guards stepped up defensively to combat Nottingham.
“We knew that their point guard was their key player,” Brandon said. “So Deja (Mann) and whoever else was guarding her, they tried to lock her down. We were there for each other having each other’s back.”
ASU finished off Riverside winning 66-46.
It was a big win for the Sun Devils and the first win for Anders as ASU’s head coach.
ASU rams CSU
After the game against Riverside ASU had a quick turn around and traveled to play Colorado State on Sunday.
Anders said the game would be a good road contest in the early part of the season and the Sun Devils will face some challenges against the Rams.
“Playing in Colorado is tough and then the altitude that you deal with there is also another opponent,” Anders said. “We played them in the past and they have been a very, very solid ball club.”
The Rams and Sun Devils battled back and forth in the first half. CSU was only up by one point as the first half came to close 23-22.
The second half featured the same kind of action. With the score tied and 11 seconds to go. The Sun Devils got the ball to junior guard Deja Mann.
Mann missed a jumper with four seconds left and the game went into overtime.
ASU came out strong in overtime and defeated CSU 56-52.
Junior guard Michaela Pickens almost had a double-double in the Sun Devils victory with 12 points and eight rebounds. From her first two performances it is clear that she has made a smooth transition to Division I basketball.
The Sun Devils come back to Tempe and look to increase their win streak to three games when they face their next opponent, Boston College.
Reach the reporter at ehubbard@asu.edu
Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
