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ASU women's basketball picks up second upset of the weekend with victory over Stanford

The Sun Devils extend win streak to six games and improve to 4-0 in conference play

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ASU sophomore guard Robbie Ryan (11) looks to pass to a teammate in the second period in the Sun Devil's 80-71 win against the California Golden Bears at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Arizona on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. 


Head coach Charli Turner Thorne always emphasizes to her Sun Devil women's basketball team that rebounding wins games. And in the team's 73-66 home victory against No. 24 Stanford in which the Sun Devils out rebounded the Cardinal 47-24, rebounds were crucial.

“That was the game, let’s be real,” Turner Thorne said. “It’s all about the boards for Stanford, they are first in the conference in rebounds.”

Junior center Charnea Johnson-Chapman led ASU as she was just shy of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds.

The Sun Devils also got good production out of sophomore guards Robbi Ryan and Reili Richardson. Ryan also finished a little short of a double-double with nine points and a career high eight rebounds, while Richardson finished with 11 points and five rebounds. 

Out of the gate, the Sun Devils struggled to find their rhythm from the field as they shot 38 percent from the field in the first quarter.

Stanford went on a 13-2 run in the middle of the quarter to bolster their lead.

However, in the second quarter, the Sun Devil offense woke up as they scored 21 points to elevate themselves to a 35-27 halftime lead.

ASU accomplished this by bumping up their field goal percentage from 38 to 48 and establishing a presence inside, as 10 of their second quarter points came from in the paint.

The Sun Devils also grew their lead by stepping up defensively. In the first quarter, Stanford shot 62 percent from the field, but by halftime, that percentage had dwindled down to 38.

Coming out of the break, the Cardinal stayed competitive by forcing 15 ASU turnovers through three quarters.

The Sun Devils also used foul shots to grow their advantage as they took 15 more shots from the charity stripe than Stanford, making 14 of 21.

Stanford would not go down easy as they started the fourth quarter by scoring four straight points to level the game at 50 with 8:42 left, forcing ASU to take a time out.

Out of the timeout, ASU went on an 8-3 run to grab a five point lead with less than five minutes left in the final quarter.

ASU followed that up with a strong defensive possession to expand the lead to 63-54.

From then on it was all ASU as Stanford went cold from the field which allowed ASU to maintain its lead and earn its second upset in three days.

ASU’s next challenge will be a two-game road trip to Oregon where they will take on No. 16 Oregon State University and No. 9 University of Oregon on Friday and Sunday.


Reach the reporter at Joshua.Zaklis@asu.edu and follow @JoshZaklis on Twitter.

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