The ASU women’s basketball traveled to Puerto Rico this past weekend looking for a challenge.
They got what they wished for when they took on Illinois and No. 13 Rutgers.
The Sun Devils split their weekend series in the San Juan Shootout, beating Illinois in a nail-biter and losing to ranked Rutgers.
ASU’s first match up was against the Fighting Illini. As UI had struggled against Pac-12 opponents this season after losing to Cal and Oregon, they were looking to end the streak against ASU.
The Illini got off to a good start against the Sun Devils and ASU responded.
Both teams had a similar first half, it made sense that the score was tied at the end of the half 30-30. ASU and UI shot about 40 percent and made use of their free throws shooting 80 percent.
ASU came out of the break cold and only shot 26.7 percent from the field in the second half. The Sun Devils made up for it on defense holding the Illini to 22.2 percent in the second half.
Defensively the Sun Devils had a standout performance from redshirt senior forward Kali Bennett. She had a team-high nine points, which is incredible since she had large work load on the defensive side of the floor.
Bennett was assigned to defend UI strong post presence junior forward Karisma Penn. Bennett grabbed five rebounds, three blocks, two steals and held Penn to 23 points.
Late in the game the Sun Devils were down 47-39 and were looking for someone to step up offensively.
Their answer came in redshirt junior forward Janae Fulcher. Fulcher scored all of her eight points in the second half and helped ASU retake the lead at 49-48 with a clutch free throw shot.
Penn would then put the Illini back on top with a layup with 33 seconds left.
The Sun Devils then took control of the ball and gave it to Fulcher with 17 seconds left. Fulcher hit the game-winning layup and the Sun Devils won 51-50.
Rutgers prevails
At the start of the Sun Devils’ second challenge of the weekend, it seemed like ASU would be in control over Rutgers the entire game.
ASU jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the first half, but Rutgers remained composed and went on a run to end the first half with a 33-25 lead.
The Scarlet Knights runs a pressure the ball defense, similar to the defense that ASU runs.
Coach Joseph Anders said that going up against a similar defense helped the Sun Devils compete in the game.
Rutgers came out rolling in the second half and even increased their lead to 14 points. The Sun Devils fought back and continued to try and close the gap.
After capitalizing on a Rutgers technical foul, the Sun Devils were able to bring the score to 51-50 with less than two minutes left.
Anders said he was proud of how his team came back.
“I cannot say enough about our team, their effort, their competitive character,” Anders said. “(We) just were not able to finish what was an outstanding game.”
Rutgers showed why they are one of the top ranked teams in the country as they scored the next eight points to win 59-52.
Reach the reporter at ehubbard@asu.edu
Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
