The No. 5 seeded ASU women's basketball built a double digit point lead, only to have it erased by a 20-0 run, leading to being upset by the No. 12 seeded Cal 71-67 in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon.
A stifling Golden Bear (12-18, 3-15 Pac-12) full court press led them to take the lead in the third quarter, extending it to 55-46 in the fourth quarter to take control the rest of the way.
The Sun Devils' (20-11, 10-8) loss comes off the heels of blowing out the same squad less than a week ago.
ASU committed 21 turnovers in the game, including five in the last two minutes of the third to relinquish the lead.
With senior guard Kiara Russell sidelined with a knee injury, the Sun Devils were forced to rely on freshman guards Sara Bejedi and Sydnei Caldwell to make plays against the Cal press.
"Not having (Russell) out there, our starting point guard in our rotation, really hurt us against the press," ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We kept throwing it sideways. It was mainly our young players that just weren't on page with what we wanted to do."
Typically, with its normal full complement of guards, ASU thrives against the press, but a depleted ASU backcourt just couldn't handle the pressure.
"We live for people to press us because it fuels our transition," Turner Thorne said. "We just didn't do what we were supposed to do."
The referees called the game tight, as evidenced by Cal's 30 free throw attempts, with Turner Thorne citing it as one of the main reasons for the loss.
"They called a lot of fouls on us today," Turner Thorne said. "Them getting to the free throw line was the difference in the game."
Fouls and turnovers played a huge part in ASU's collapse after leading by as many as 15 points, but Turner Thorne insisted that her team just didn't have its typical execution.
"Honestly, it didn't matter who we played today, we didn't have it," Turner Thorne said. "We didn't play good basketball. I do credit Cal for sure. We just didn't play well."
Despite the disappointing result, ASU can't afford to dwell too long, because its season is not over. ASU is still all but guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament.
"We can't hang our heads too much about it," senior guard Robbi Ryan said. "We've got to look forward and work on the things we need to work on so we can go into the tournament stronger."
The Sun Devils will have a chance to get some much-needed practice time under their belt in the coming weeks as they await their next destination.
"I think just getting back to practicing and doing the little things," senior guard Reili Richardson said. "I know we've had some trouble breaking the press recently and so we need to get back to just breaking the press."
The extended time off should help to nurse the team back to relative health as well.
"We have a lot of people that after the season is over are probably going to need knee surgeries and things like that," Turner Thorne said. "I love this window right now because you get great rest and you get some great practice time, and we usually do really well with it."
The Sun Devils will find out where they are headed and who their next opponent is during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on March 16.
Reach the reporter at ltochter@asu.edu and follow @Leo_Toch on Twitter.
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