In tough circumstances, the best teams don’t make excuses.
The ASU women’s basketball team did not play one of their best games against Cal State Fullerton, but was able to scrape out a win.
ASU senior forward Kali Bennett said that the team was in a “finals fog,” citing that as one of the reasons the team came out to a slow start. Bennett said that the end of the semester is not an excuse for poor play and the team has to play better.
Cal State Fullerton (3-5) came into their matchup against an ASU team that had been struggling in their past couple games, but the Titans came out the gates challenging the Sun Devils (7-1).
Coach Joseph Anders gave the Titans credit for the close game.
“Don’t take anything away from Cal State Fullerton,” Anders said. “We talk about it in our program that we are just not good enough to not come out and outwork any opponent.”
The Titans’ best scorer, senior guard Megan Richardson, started out hot scoring four quick points. The ASU defense was able to subdue her later in the game with pressure defense, with Richardson finishing with only nine points in the game.
Senior guard Alex Earl once again carried most of the defensive load against Richardson, but other ASU defenders chipped in to help guard the Richardson. Senior guard Olivia Major, sophomore guard Adrianne Thomas and freshman guard Promise Amukamara helped defend Richardson.
Over the past couple games, ASU has had a height advantage in the post. Senior forward Kali Bennett took advantage early and often led the Sun Devils with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Bennett said she was happy with her performance.
“I’m proud of myself for getting out of my finishing funk,” Bennett said. “Last year and a little bit into this year, I have not been finishing as well as I should so it just feels nice to put the ball in the basket.”
The Sun Devils went into halftime with a small lead and needed to turn things around in the second half.
When the team came out of halftime, they still had some offensive problems. ASU only hit one out of their first five shots and it looked like Fullerton could make it a close game.
ASU found a spark offensively from Amukamara, who came out firing in the second half. Her raw speed helped create some fast break points for the Sun Devils. She finished with 12 points in the game, with eight points in the second half.
Promise said that the fast break really plays to her skills.
“I outrun most of my opponents, so I’m pretty used to this. I did it in high school, so I just carried it on to college,” Amukamara said.
Anders said that the team played pretty well defensively, holding the Titans to 23 percent shooting from the field. The statistic that surprised Anders was the fact that Fullerton had 27 offensive rebounds.
“They gave great effort to come up with 27 offensive rebounds,” Anders said. “(It was an) incredible effort on their part (and) not a very good job of boxing out on our part. We have to do a better job at that phase of the game.”
After two back-to-back three-point shots by senior guard Olivia Major, the Sun Devils took control of the game. ASU went on to win the game 63-49.
ASU has a week until their next opponent, No. 20 DePaul.
Reach reporter at ehubbard@asu.edu
